Secrets of A Rose
by Aria Marier
Summary: Please review! What is the secret of the Rose Duelists? A Yu-Gi-Oh/Utena crossover. Yaoi, Y/Y, J/S, and a few others, including some Tea/Tristan lov
1. Letter

Aria: Here it is...my first fic...please be gentle and don't flame me! This is an YGO/RG Utena crossover. For those of you who know Utena, this is near the beginning, just before she duels Touga for the first time until just after their second duel. For those of you who don't know Utena...look into it immediately. Um...*looks at notes* ...oh yeah, YAOI warning...Y/Y, J/S, Y/OC, J/OC, and some Tea and Tristan love!! *sighs happily*  
  
Yugi: Anything else?  
  
Aria: Well yeah...clearly, I have to have a disclaimer. Hmm....*snaps her fingers*  
  
Touga: *saunters in, looking sexy* Yes...?  
  
Aria: *drools* Uh...Touga...care to do the disclaiming honors? *hands him a slip of paper*  
  
Touga:*reads...sexily* *Aria sighs* Ok...it says here, Aria Marier doesn't own Yu-Gi-Oh! Or   
anything like it, really, except for this fic she's writing. *smiles at Aria, who simpers* Also, she doesn't own Revolutionary Girl Utena...a very cool man in Japan does. *smiles...sexily*  
  
Aria: *breathlessly* Thanks, Touga.  
  
Touga: *smiles* Anytime.   
  
Joey: Can we get ON with it, please?  
  
Aria: *looking after Touga* Huh? Oh, yeah...sure. Okay, here we go!  
  
***********  
  
Secrets of a Rose  
  
Chapter 1: The Letter   
  
The letter was short and smelled faintly of roses, written in green ink on the thick, smooth   
paper. Tea checked the address again before reading it, and her forehead crinkled slightly.   
"Ohtori...?" she muttered, and searched her memory. Sounded familiar. She shrugged and   
unfolded the letter.  
  
Dear Cousin, it read,  
I know it's been a long time . I hope things have gone well for you since I left for school. My mother   
told me about you and your friends at Duelist Kingdom...very impressive, cousin!   
You are probably wondering why I've written to you, after so long an absence-simply, this letter is   
an invitation. I haven't seen you in so long, and I'd like for you-and your friends, if possible-to come visit   
me here at Ohtori for a while...perhaps over spring break, and to come to one of my concerts? Please do come,   
Tea. I'll be looking for you. Your loving cousin,  
  
Miki  
  
She read it again, and laughed out loud. Miki! She hadn't seen or heard from him since he went off with his sister to that fancy boarding school. She put down the letter, still smiling, and picked up her phone.  
  
This was an opportunity not to be missed.  
  
Half an hour later, the gang was assembled in the park. Seto lounged against a tree, one knee pulled up, the other stretched out on the cool, shaded grass. Joey and Tristan sat near by, Tristan lay with his eyes closed while Joey picked at grass and sent glances at Seto from under his heavy bangs. Yugi, from his seat by Yami, spoke up once they'd all arrived.  
  
"What's up, Tea?" he asked. "Why'd you call us all here?"  
  
"Okay," she said, and sat down in the sweet grass, playing with a glossy leaf. She checked to make sure they were all there-Yami, Yugi, Joey, Tristan, Kaiba, Ryou, Bakura-great.  
  
"Well, you know how our spring break is coming up?"  
  
They all grinned and looked slightly starry-eyed. She laughed. "Does anyone have any specific plans?"  
  
"Not unless you count running a major corporation," Seto said with a slight smile.  
  
"Not particularly, no," said Yugi. "Why? Do you have something in mind, Tea?"  
  
"Actually, I do," she said, grinning widely. She held up the letter.  
  
"This is from my cousin Miki," she continued. "He goes to Ohtori Academy...a private boarding school, and he plays piano on the national level. He wants us to come visit him at Ohtori, for spring break, and to see one of his concerts." She looked around at her friends, beaming. "I figured, why not? It's not like we're doing anything else over break...and it might be nice to get out of Domino for a few weeks. Anyway. What do you all think?"  
  
They were quiet for a moment, shooting incredulous glances at each other.  
  
"Your cousin..." Seto said, thinking. "He's not Miki Kaoru...is he?"  
  
She looked over. "Uh...yeah, actually. Why?"  
  
He whoofed and lay back against the tree, tilting his head against the bark. "He's only the most acclaimed pianist of the year...just like last year...so young, and so talented...every one's talking about him."  
  
Tea grinned. "That's Miki, all right."  
  
"I think it's a great idea," Yami said from where he was lounging in the grass. He uncurled his lithe body for a stretch, sat up, and looked at Yugi. "What do you say, Aibou?"  
  
Yugi shrugged and smiled. "Sounds good to me," he said. Tea smiled. Two down...though everyone knew that Yugi would go with whatever Yami decided. He worshipped his darker half...who, surprisingly, seemed to not notice.  
  
"Tristan? Joey?" Tea asked, turning to them. Joey shrugged noncommittally.   
"Sure, sounds fun," he said, and flicked a glance at Seto. He looked up and grinned. "It'll be good to get out of here for a while, you know? Right, bro?" Tristan nodded.  
  
"How about the rest of you?" Tea asked, but she saw Ryou shaking his head.  
  
"I wish I could, Tea," he said. "but I just took a part-time job for those weeks. I'm sorry." Bakura just shrugged. If Ryou didn't go, he didn't go.  
  
Finally, Tea looked to the brown-haired teen still leaning against the tree, looking up into shimmering green leaves.   
  
"How about it, Kaiba?" She could practically hear Joey's heart speed up from where she sat.  
  
For once, the young CEO looked a bit uncomfortable. "I don't know," he said slowly. "The company...Mokuba..."  
  
The others looked at each other, and Tea sighed. She had to get Kaiba to come, for...she looked at Joey, who was carefully looking elsewhere.  
  
As usual, though, Yugi had a solution to the problem at hand. "Listen, Kaiba," he said kindly, "my grandpa will probably be pretty lonely if Yami and I both go away...so maybe Mokuba could come and stay with him while we're away. I know he'd really enjoy that." The others nodded, and Tea could see Seto's resolve weakening.  
  
"To see Miki Kaoru..." He sighed. "But the company..."  
  
"Can take care of itself, practically," Tea said firmly. "Come on, Kaiba...take a break now and again."  
  
He scowled at her, and she knew she had won.  
  
************  
  
ENDNOTES:  
  
Aria: Yay! That was fun! Joey, you're so cute.  
  
Joey: Humph. *sulks*  
  
Seto: Don't worry, Puppy...you get me in the end.  
  
Aria: Now, boys, no giving things away...awa...away...*stares at Touga, who has just walked in*  
  
Touga: So when do we come in?  
  
Aria: Huh? Oh...um...*looks at notes* next chapter. Promise.   
  
Touga: Perfect. *leaves...sexily*  
  
Aria: *siiiiiigh*  
  
Well, folks, I hope you liked this first chapter. Please, pleas review! I have a lot of cool ideas for this! Cheers! *waves* 


	2. Academy

Aria: Wonderful! Back again, with another installment.  
  
Touga: *appears...sexily* So...are we introduced in this chapter?  
  
Aria: *stares* Uh...I...*looks frantically at notes* Um...yeah. *grins, slightly manically*  
  
Yami: *saunters up...just as sexily* What did you say before about Duelists? Can I challenge them?  
  
Aria: *look at Yami...back to Touga...back to Yami* All in good time. Don't get ahead of the story!  
  
Jen: What are you doing? What about your Chinese test tomorrow?  
  
Aria: *cringes* Everyone, my roomie, Jen.  
  
Jen: *waves*  
  
Aria: *whispers confidentially* Actually, she's just here because she thinks Yami is hot.  
  
Yami: *pleased* Really?  
  
Jen: *mutters something in Korean*  
  
Aria: *brightly* So...who wants to do the disclaimer for me?  
  
Everyone: *silence*  
  
Yugi: *sighs* I'll do it, Aria.  
  
Aria: Thanks Yugi! You're the best.  
  
Yugi: *blushes* Ok...Aria here doesn't own either Yu-Gi-Oh! Or Revolutionary Girl Utena...or Jen, her roomie...but that's all probably just as well.  
  
Aria: Ok! On with the fic! Time to set the scene...  
  
************  
  
SECRETS OF A ROSE  
Chapter two: The Academy  
  
Ohtori Academy. The buildings glow in white and creamy marble as the soft spring light glances from their smooth sides. In the middle of the campus is a slim white tower, overlooking the school and the dome-shaped gray-green forest behind. At the front gates, outlined by the black iron decorations, stand two figures. The scent of roses settles sweetly over all.  
  
"They're late," the taller of the two commented, his gaze toward the setting sun. The light hit him softly, illuminating his flowing red hair, and his white uniform glinted slightly gold as he leaned against the cool iron of the gate. The smaller boy didn't glance back, but he smiled slightly.  
  
"And yet you are still here," he said in reply. "Can't take the chance of visitors not being met by the all-powerful Kiryuu Touga, hmm?"  
  
The other smiled, but made no comment. Silence was warm between them, respected. They had no need for idle conversation, until a cloud of dust glittered gold in the fading light.  
  
"That must be them," Touga said, and the smaller boy looked out at the road. His heart pounded hard, once, and his stomach twisted slightly. He ran a pale hand, long fingered and delicate, through his hair, and straightened his uniform. He pulled himself straight as the long black limousine pulled up quietly to the gate, and waited, conscious of Touga's slight movements behind him as the older boy straightened and brushed non-existent specks of dust off his immaculate uniform. He hoped Touga would remember his promise...as honorable as the Council President was, he couldn't often pass up a good chance for pleasure. He hoped Utena had his attention solidly enough for him to forgo an easier challenge.  
  
The sleek door of the limousine opened, and a long, slender leg slipped out. Control yourself, Touga, the smaller boy thought as he stepped forward to help her out of her seat. Face to face, she shook back her brown hair and smiled warmly at him. She's changed a lot, he thought, and smiled back.  
  
"Miki," she said, and hugged him. "It's been so long!"  
  
"I know...I'm sorry about that," he said, pulling back and smiling at her. "Tea, look at you. I'm so glad you could come!" A slight cough from behind him brought his attention to other matters. He turned, and shot Touga a small warning look before allowing Tea to be brought into his full view.   
  
"Tea, let me introduce you to our Student Council president...Kiryuu Touga. Touga-san, this is my cousin, Tea Gardener. She and her friends will be visiting me for a while."  
  
To his benefit, Touga was polite and charming, as only he could be. He smiled softly and took Tea's hand. "Charmed," he said. Tea smiled at him, and turned back to look at the limo, which sat purring in the late afternoon light. She glanced at Miki.  
  
"My friends are still in the car...they wanted us to be able to say hello first."  
  
Miki answered her unasked question. "Please, have them come out...I'd like to meet them, very much." Them, he said, and deep in his mind a nervous giggle echoed.   
  
Tea motioned to the car, and all the doors suddenly sprang open, and a crowd of people suddenly appeared beside her. She gestured to each in turn.  
  
"Miki, these are my friends. Joey..." the lanky blonde grinned and gave a thumbs-up, "Tristan..." Next to Joey, the tall boy grinned easily. She turned to a tall boy with deep blue eyes who stood just outside the group. "Seto Kaiba..." Miki returned the others slight bow. Kaiba. He'd heard of him...the boy genius of a computerized empire.   
  
Last, she turned to two boys immediately next to her, one tall, slim, confident, and the other...Miki could read his soul in his eyes. Shy, pure. He smiled at the boy.   
  
"These two are Yami, and Yugi Motou," she said, putting a protective hand on the small boy's shoulder. "Gang," she said, turning to the rest of them, "this is my cousin, Kaoru Miki." Miki bowed slightly to her friends.  
  
"It's such a pleasure to have you all here," he said, smiling and relaxing a bit. He shook a soft blue bang from his eyes. "Your adventures have been gossiped about so often, I felt like I was meeting celebrities. I'm sorry all my friends couldn't be here to welcome you, but they are..." he searched for a word. "A bit busy. However, our Student Council president came with me to greet you...Kiryuu Touga." Touga stepped forward and radiated charm.  
  
"Welcome to Ohtori Academy," he said. "Tea-sama, your cousin is much too modest. After all, I'm not the only member of the Council!" Miki blushed, but kept silent. He wasn't about to get into the inner workings of the Council here, in the open. Touga smiled, and opened the gates with a grand gesture.  
  
"Please, follow me," he said. "Miki and I thought we'd show you around the school first, to get you acquainted, and to meet some of the people you'll be seeing in the next few weeks."  
  
Yugi didn't know what to think. The school was enormous, the campus almost as big as Domino itself, and Tea's cousin...Tea's cousin...He shook his head slightly. The boy's innocent blue eyes had read him already, and, rather than finding him wanting, had smiled. Yugi watched as he and Tea laughed together at the front of the group. Kaoru Miki...  
  
Joey and Tristan stared at the campus they were being shown around. The green grass glowed warm and soft in beautifully manicured lawns, and the buildings rose to smooth heights. A giggling group of girls passed them, all dressed in pink and blue with short, fluttery skirts, and Joey found himself not thinking of Seto in the first time since...well, since whenever it was he'd started thinking of Seto. It was nice, in a way, to gawk after girls again. He made a mental note to petition for uniforms at Domino High when he got back.  
  
"Miki, I can't believe this campus!" Tea sighed, her eyes glowing as she looked around. She glanced behind. The others seemed as enthralled as she was...she hid a smile as Joey and Tristan watched a group of girls longingly. Good for you, Joey, she thought, and glanced at Kaiba, who stalked along with both hands in the pockets of his flowing blue coat. She turned back to Miki, who smiled.  
  
"Ohtori is pretty remarkable," he said, and glanced at Touga. "Some might even call it revolutionary."  
  
Only a slight smile and a flick of a silky eyebrow told Miki he'd been heard. He turned his attention to the building they were approaching.  
  
"This one of the main buildings," he said, turning slightly so they could all hear him. "Most of the classrooms are in here, and it's has a courtyard that leads to the fields, the lawns, and the rose garden."  
  
Tea breathed deeply. "That must by why it smells so good here," she said. "Like roses, everywhere we go." Miki stiffened for a second, but immediately relaxed. He had been the one to bring it up. They moved into the courtyard, and paused for a moment when Miki was hailed. A tall, slim girl with tightly curled, golden hair was moving towards them. "Miki, there you are," she called, and smiled.   
  
Yugi's stomach seemed to drop slightly as the tall, athletic girl came up to them, her cool blue eyes taking them all in. Miki made introductions, and named her as "Arisugawa Jury...captain of the fencing team and fellow Council member. And good friend." He grinned at her, and she smiled at him, a touch of warmth appearing in her face. She exchanged a few words with him and Touga, and then moved off in the direction she had come from.   
  
Their tour led them out onto the school's grounds, the soft lawns and shady trees. They could even hear the trickle of a fountain nearby, and as Yugi turned around, trying to locate it, his gaze was caught by a figure moving towards them.   
  
She walked with a smooth and confident gait, raising a hand in greeting to the admirers around her, clad in a smoothly flaring short black jacket and slim shorts...a boys uniform, but on a clearly feminine body. Her hair flooded free down her back in warm pink waves, and her large clear blue eyes smiled around her. Miki turned around, caught sight of her, and laughed. She looked up at them, and smiled, her clear eyes passing over each of them in turn, lingering slightly on the newcomers and on the tall, slim figure of the Council president. Walking up, she greeted Miki. "Who're your friends?" she asked, looking with wide eyes at the assembled group.  
  
Miki grinned, and introduced his cousin, and then her friends. "This is Tenjou Utena," he said. "The most popular girl on campus...practically the most popular boy, too." She laughed and punched him lightly.  
  
"Not boy," she said. "Prince."  
  
Before anyone could comment on this oddity, a blur moved past them and launched itself at Utena, who almost fell forward, a girl in the school's uniform clinging solidly to her back.  
  
"Utena-samaaaaaa!" she cried happily as Utena frantically tried to regain her balance.  
  
"Wakaba..." she said, warningly, then sighed, her mouth twitching toward a smile. "You need to not do that. Okay?"  
  
There was no answer. Wakaba had seen the quiet group standing before her, and slid down off Utena's back, blushing furiously. She was smaller than her friend, with chocolate-coloured curls and large brown eyes. She tried a smile.  
  
"My friend, Wakaba," Utena said, straightening and cracking her back.   
  
They laughed.  
  
************  
  
Aria: Wasn't that fun! *grins madly* Bet you can't wait for the next one, now that you've started meeting people.  
  
Yugi: *stars in eyes* Wow...we should have met Tea's cousin a long time ago...  
  
Aria: *rubs hands together and cackles evilly* Everything is going as I have foreseen...  
  
Yami: Aibou? Yugi...?  
  
Yugi: *stars* Wow...  
  
Aria: Cute, isn't he? I love Miki. One of my favorite characters, just like you, Yugi. Anyway...tune in next time for another installment! Cheers! 


	3. Piano

Aria: Ooh, this is so much fun! I should have gotten into fan fic a long time ago!!  
  
Yugi: What's happening in this chapter, Aria?  
  
Aria: You'll see. But it involves you, Yugi.  
  
Yugi: *blushes* ...me...? What about Yami?  
  
Aria: *looks at notes* Hmm...not so much, no. Maybe a little at the end. I have plans for him. *cackles evilly*  
  
Yami: *looks worried*  
  
Joey: Hey, what about me?  
  
Aria: *checks notes, and thinks* I have some one...er...someTHING for you too, Joey. *smiles* Maybe not this chapter...but soon.  
  
Joey: *grins* Who? *tries to look at notes*   
  
Aria: *blocks him* Not so fast, Mister! You'll see. Actually...no, I won't say. Okay...umm...Tristan.  
  
Tristan: *looks up guiltily* It wasn't me, I swear!  
  
Everyone: *blank looks*  
  
Tristan: *shifty eyes*  
  
Aria: Um...I was hoping you'd read the disclaimer...?  
  
Tristan: Oh. Um, right. Let's see...*reads* Aria Marier, no matter how cool she is, does not, never has, and won't ever own either Yu-Gi-Oh or Revolutionary Girl Utena. *squints, and looks closer* Hey...what's that say about Touga...?  
  
Aria: *hides it* Um...Nothing. *shifty eyes*  
  
Joey: *quirks an eyebrow*  
  
Aria: Um. How about that next chapter? Heheheh...  
  
************  
  
Secrets of A Rose  
  
Chapter 2: The Piano  
  
Yugi stepped outside and breathed in the cool, rose-scented air. Looking around, he smiled at the purple and blue scene around and before him, the cool of evening finally reaching the grounds of Ohtori. Above, he saw the glow of bright planets and the curve of a waxing moon rising.  
  
Miki had led them to a large brick building just outside the campus the night before, and presented Tea with a key to the front door.  
  
"Is this your dorm, Miki?" she'd asked, awed by the classic fa 


	4. Cards

Aria: First things first. A shout out to all my reviewers! Thanks for reading! And reviewing! Please tell your friends!  
  
Kaiba: You're shameless. You know that.  
  
Aria: Yeah...Anyway, a couple of things to clear up. I know I promised a Yami and Yugi story...  
  
Yugi/Yami: *blushes*  
  
Aria: ...and a Joey/Seto one...  
  
Joey: *blushes*  
  
Kaiba: *smiles*  
  
Aria: BUT, we haven't quite gotten there yet. There has to be DENIAL, people! Otherwise, there's no story! Angst! Suffering! Jealousy!  
  
Kaiba: Down, girl.  
  
Aria: ...sorry. Um, so, just to clarify, it WILL happen. There just needs to be a catalyst. And don't even get me started on you two...*points to Joey and Kaiba*  
  
Joey: *smiles sheepishly*  
  
Aria: *sighs* Okay...so, patience, dear readers! And read on! And then review!  
  
Jen: *materializes*  
  
Aria: Aah! Jen, don't DO that!  
  
Jen: Go on, tell them the OTHER reason.  
  
Aria: *innocence* WHAT other reason?  
  
Jen: *glares*  
  
Aria: Fine, fine. I happen to think Yugi and Miki would be really cute together...and I needed to get Yami's attention ANYway, so...happy?  
  
Jen: Yes. *dematerializes*  
  
Aria: I wish she would stop that.   
  
Joey: Hey, aren't you forgetting something?  
  
Aria: *looks meaningfully at Kaiba*  
  
Kaiba: What? Oh...well, fine. But you'd better make it worth my while.  
  
Aria: *shrugs*  
  
Kaiba: Okay, fine. Aria Marier, as much as she wishes, doesn't own either Yu-Gi-Oh! Or Utena, except for a couple of packets of cards and this story, and so on and so forth world without end amen. Now will you write?  
  
Aria: Yes! And here we go...  
  
SECRETS OF A ROSE  
Chapter 4: The Cards  
  
Piano music floated across the sweet spring-scented air and soaked into the green grass around him. Yugi lay in the shade of a tree in a quad of the campus listening to Miki practice, a small smile on his lips and a faraway look in his eyes. A shadow fell across his face, and he looked around.  
  
"Chu?"  
  
Inquisitive black-pebble eyes watched him from above. He sat up quickly, and in the process knocked over his visitor, who tumbled into the grass from his perch on Yugi's chest. It picked itself up and turned to face him with an aggrieved expression on its tiny face.   
  
"Chu!"  
  
Yugi stared at the creature as it put its...paws? hands? on its hips and looked at him with dignity, its small tie flapping in the breeze.  
  
"Chu-chu!" A soft voice came from behind him and he looked back. A tall, slim girl in the school's uniform stood there, backed by bright yellow sunlight, with a fist on her hip, and shook a finger at the creature. "Don't bother people!"  
  
The little animal, abashed, turned away, its ears drooping. She smiled and scooped him up. "I'm sorry about Chu-chu," she said. "He likes to play."  
  
Yugi smiled and got up, dusting himself off. "It's alright," he said. He extended a finger towards the little creature. "I'm delighted to make your acquaintance," he said solemnly. Chu-chu looked seriously at his finger for a moment, and then grasped it tightly in both paws and shook it with dignity. He laughed.  
  
"I'm Yugi," he told the girl, and she nodded and smiled back. Now that he had introduced himself and started paying attention to her, she seemed to lose interest. "What's your name?" he prompted.  
  
"This is Himemiya Anthy," a voice behind him said. He turned and saw the pink-haired girl from the first day standing with a smile in the sun. She moved easily toward him.   
  
"She's a little shy," she said, and grinned at the other girl. Anthy smiled and nodded.   
  
***********  
  
"You went all that way, and fought those battles to save your grandfather?" Utena asked later. They were sitting together in the shade of the tree he'd been resting under earlier, and with a background of busy students and a giggling Anthy as she played with Chu-chu, he'd told her the whole story of Duelist Kingdom, about the duels, and about his friends. He nodded, and picked a thick blade of grass.  
  
She whistled. "I'm impressed." She fell over onto her back and looked up at the translucent green veil over them.  
  
"I had help," he shrugged, and looked at her curiously. What's your story?"   
  
She chewed a blade of grass. "What do you mean?"  
  
He shrugged. "I feel like you have one. Why do you wear a boy's uniform? There must be a story in that."  
  
She was quiet for a moment, and rolled onto her side and lifted up onto an elbow, her left hand entwined in warms floods of silky pink hair. "You'll laugh," she said, smiling.  
  
"I might," he said. "But try me."  
  
"Alright then," she said. "Once upon a time." He grinned. "Years and years ago, there was a little princess, and she was very sad, because her parents had both died. Through her tears, she saw a prince before her, riding on a white horse. He had a regal bearing and smiled at her kindly. He wrapped her in a rose-scented embrace and kissed away her tears."   
  
Yugi looked down at her, and saw the faraway look in her clear blue eyes. He felt a sudden surge of sympathy for this girl who had been left all alone, and listened, enthralled, as she continued.   
  
"The prince told her, 'Little one who bears up alone in such deep sorrow, never lose that strength or nobility even when you grow up.'" She sighed a little and closed her eyes, as if she could feel his kiss on her eyelids. "He slipped a ring on her finger and said, 'I give you this to remember this day. We will meet again. This ring will lead you to me.'"   
  
Yugi looked at the hand she held out, and saw a gilded rose seal glitter on her slim finger.  
  
"Was the ring an engagement ring? She thought it must be. But," she said, and flopped, grinning onto her back, with her hands behind her head, "so impressed was she by him, that she vowed that one day she would a be a noble prince as well." She quirked an eyebrow and looked at Yugi.  
  
"But was that really such a good idea?"  
  
He laughed. "It seems to have worked so far," he said. "Is that really true?"   
  
She nodded. "Ever since that day, I've tried to be as noble a prince as he was." She laughed and looked over at Anthy. "I even have a princess to save." The dark girl looked at, her eyes crinkled in a smile.  
  
"Did you ever see him again?" Yugi asked.  
  
She hesitated. "No," she said finally. "I don't even know who he was. All I know is that this school has something to do with him. His...mark seems to be on it." Yugi nodded. She smiled again. "What am I thinking?" she said, knocking her forehead with the palm of her hand. "I actually have a favor to ask of you, Yugi."  
  
"Sure, anything," he said. "What's up?"  
  
"I'd thought of it before, when I first met you and your friends," she said, "but your story seems so interesting. I was wondering, if you wouldn't mind, if you could teach me to duel the way you do? With those cards, I mean."  
  
He grinned.   
  
"There are three main kinds of cards," he said, taking out his deck and shuffling through it. "Monster cards, like this Winged Dragon, Magic cards like this one, Swords of Revealing Light, and Trap cards, like this Castle Walls." He laid the three cards face up on the grass.  
  
"Monster, Magic, and Trap. Okay," she said. "What do they all do?"  
  
"Well, your basic attack force is your monster card," Yugi said. "See these numbers, here? These are the attack and defense points, they tell you how strong your monster is for attacking, and how well it can defend itself. For example, the Winged Dragon has an attack rate of 1400, and defense of 1200. So, if I play him in attack mode, he can destroy any monster with attack or defense points lower than 1400, depending on how my opponent has played the monster the dragon is attacking, and if there are any trap or magic cards there. See?" She nodded, and he pointed to the next card.   
  
"Magic cards work in a very different way. Instead of summoning a monster, they can add to a monster already played, create a new situation, and even change control of different monsters."   
  
Utena whistled softly.  
  
"Magic cards can be extremely powerful when used the right way," Yugi explained. "It's all about understanding the cards and the game, and trusting in not only strategy or fire power, but in the heart of the cards."  
  
"Alright," she said. "Monster cards summon monsters who do battle, magic cards create new circumstances for the battles. What about this last one?"  
  
"The name says it all," said Yugi. "Trap cards are mainly used when you're being attacked, and often a single trap used effectively shifts the play of the entire duel."  
  
"What's this? You got a challenger, Yug?"  
  
Yugi turned around and looked up. "Hey Joey," he said. "I was just explaining the basic rules." He turned back to Utena. "Understand?"  
  
"Yeah!" she said. "Could I try playing?"  
  
Yugi looked at his deck. There weren't enough cards for two people, and he turned to ask Joey if they could use his when a sleek brown briefcase plopped onto the grass next to him.  
  
"She can use mine," a rough voice said. Yugi opened the case and looked at all the cards that were neatly piled inside.   
  
"Thanks, Kaiba!" he said, and meant it. Kaiba's collection was immense, almost every card created was in that case. He wondered at this unexpected show of generosity, but quickly forgot about it as he gleefully went through the stacked cards.  
  
Joey sat down with his back against the tree and watched Yugi and Utena shuffling through the cards, leaning his head against the rough bark as the smaller boy tried to explain the effects of different cards, and smiled. The past few days had been good-really good for the first time in weeks. He hadn't felt so easy since Serenity had come through her operation with a whole new life ahead of her, able to see through those beautiful blue eyes of hers. This place was so-he groped idly for a word and then let it fall flat. He didn't really care, he decided. It was just a good place to be. Besides, it was kinda nice to see someone with more presence than Kaiba. He felt a smirk coming on, but it was interrupted by the entry of two huge brown eyes into his reverie.  
  
"Aah!" he screeched, startled, but his surprise was quickly replaced by embarrassment as Wakaba looked at him oddly.   
  
"Sorry," she said. "I didn't mean to startle you...where you thinking?"  
  
A snort from the patch of grass where Kaiba was sitting, typing quickly on his laptop. Joey felt his cheeks grow redder, then smiled easily at her.   
  
"Nah," he said. "Just waitin' for a beautiful girl like you to come and keep me company, is all."  
  
She blushed, and opened her mouth to speak when a shout came from Utena.  
  
"I can't believe it! You just crushed my crow!" Utena sat back down and sighed with mock depression. "Three turns is all it took. Oh, well. I was never much good with cards, anyway. Did I tell you about the 'Go, Fish' fiasco?"  
  
Yugi laughed, and Joey got up to join them. "Hey, what's goin' on?"  
  
"We just finished our first duel," Yugi said, and went slightly red. "It was going really well, but-" he held out his last card. Joey looked at it and laughed, shaking his head.  
  
"No wonder," he said. "Don't worry, Utena," he said, as he showed her the card. "No one can beat our Yugi when he's drawn the Dark Magician."  
  
"It crunched my crow like it wasn't even there," she said mournfully. "That's a great card, Yugi."  
  
"I know," he said. "The Dark Magician is my favorite card. He's changed a lot of duels in my favor."  
  
"What's your favorite card, Joey?" Wakaba asked, pulling on his shirt sleeve.  
  
"Huh? Oh, that's easy," he said, pulling out his deck. "Flame Swordsman, far and away. He's not my most powerful monster, but there's somethin' about him that I really respect."  
  
"The card you most identify with tells a lot about your own identity," Yugi explained. "For example, I have an affinity with the Dark Magician most duelists lack," he blushed slightly and looked down at his Millennium Puzzle, and hastily continued. "Flame Swordsman is a brave and fairly...un-subtle monster, not unlike Joey here."  
  
"Yeah, yeah, sure." Joey said, going red as Wakaba looked up at him. "And Kaiba, over there, his favorite is the Blue-Eyes White Dragon, one of the most powerful and rare monsters in the whole game."  
  
"I'll thank you to leave me out of this conversation," came the reply, but Joey thought it sounded amused rather than full the usual bored indifference. He looked down at Wakaba, who had somehow wrapped her arms around his waist while he wasn't looking.   
  
"I-uh..."  
  
"Let's go for a walk!" She smiled up at him beguilingly. He nodded.   
  
"See ya later, Yug..."  
Kaiba watched them walk away and scowled at his computer screen, impatiently tapping the keys, wondering what had gotten into him. Lending his cards to Yugi? To teach this girl to duel, and allowing her to misuse them-he winced, and curled his fingers protectively around the deck in his pocket. At least they couldn't wreck his Blue-Eyes. He felt the cool shadow of Joey and the girl flick over him-the girl said something and Joey laughed, his arm around her waist-his scowl deepened. The stupid program wasn't working at all.  
  
************  
  
Aria: Aah! Cuteness!  
  
Kaiba: *scowls*  
  
Aria: Be good. You'll win out, in the end.  
  
Kaiba: I don't know what you're talking about. *crosses his arms and sulks*  
  
Yugi: That was fun! What's next?  
  
Aria: It's a secret.  
  
Yami: *scowls* Well, you're certainly taking your time with it. I don't like this place one bit.  
  
Aria: Yes! He's jealous.  
  
Yami: I'm not!   
  
Aria: You are! And it's so cute!  
  
Yami: *scowls*  
  
Aria: Besides, I had to get some information for the rest of this story before I could finish this chapter. Anyway, let's hope people read! And review! So that I don't get discouraged and never finish it...don't you want to know what happens with Yugi and Miki?  
  
Yugi: *blushes*  
  
Yami: No. I don't.  
  
Aria: Or what's going on with Joey and Wakaba?  
  
Joey: *smirks*  
  
Kaiba: *scowls*  
  
Aria: I'm open to suggestions! But *as Yami and Kaiba open their mouths* not from YOU two.  
  
Miki: Are you going to bring us back in? *gestures to Touga, Juri, and himself*  
  
Aria: *suddenly dry-mouthed* Uh, yes. Anything for you, Touga. I mean, Miki. I mean-whatever. Yes, you'll all be back and just as sexy-uh, as cool as ever. Yeah.  
  
Kaiba: *snort*  
  
Aria: Keep that up and I'll make a few important changes in a certain sub-plot...  
  
Kaiba: Fine. *mutters under his breath*  
  
Aria: Also, I wanted to say that the story Utena tells is almost word for word the one from the show, but I wanted to make sure I got it right. Hope no one minds! Okay? Good! Now, time to get started on the next chapter! Yami, hope you're ready!!  
  
Yami: What?!? What are you going to- 


	5. Swords

Aria: Hey, guess what? I have readers! And they like it so far!  
  
Kaiba: Yeah, yeah, sure. *pats her on the head*  
  
Aria: No! I do! And it's great! Thanks, everyone who's read and reviewed! And if you're just reading, please review! *bounces* Hum...*looks at notes* Some things to clear up: This story is set sometime after Duelist Kingdom (well after it) in the Yu-Gi-Oh! time-frame (not sure when, exactly, I'm not as clear on their timeline as I am on Utena), and takes place just before Utena's first duel with Touga, and should go to just past her second duel with him. And thanks to Mofalle for bringing it up. I really like your idea for the Black Rose Duelists and Kaiba...I won't put it in this story, but maybe in another one...*grins* All right! On with the story! Yay!  
  
Kaiba: I think you should put down the Snapple and back away from the computer...slowly.  
  
Aria: Oh, Kaiba, you're so paranoid. Honestly, it's like you think I'll...*giggle* I'll...*giggles harder*. Well, you're probably right. But so what! Ai-ya, the things I have to deal with.  
  
Jen: Stop trying to be Asian!  
  
Aria: But Jen...  
  
Jen: No!  
  
Aria: Aww....  
  
Jen: And just for the record, I think Yami is hotter than Touga.  
  
Yami: *pleased* Really?  
  
Jen: *blushes*  
  
Aria: That is so sweet. Can you go away now?  
  
Jen: You promised.  
  
Aria: *sighs* Fine, fine. Man, getting bossed around in my own story! Ai-  
  
Jen: *glares*  
  
Aria: --never mind. Um, so, for your reading pleasure, I bring to you Mr. Fitzwilliam Darcy.  
  
Darcy: *confused...in a gentleman-like manner* Good evening. Er...what am I doing here?  
  
Aria: Making my roomie very happy. And reading this.  
  
Darcy: *reads* Aria Marier doesn't own either Yu-Gi-Oh! or Revolutionary Girl Utena. She does own the plot to this story, and a magic 8-ball that sees all and knows all...what?  
  
Aria: Just read.  
  
Darcy: Nor does she own Snapple...although she drinks enough of it...*shakes his head*. And she doesn't own me either, thank God; I'm the product of Jane Austen's imagination.  
  
Aria: And the world is a better place for it. Thanks!  
  
Darcy: *bows*  
  
Jen/Aria: *sigh*  
  
Joey: Hey! What about us?  
  
Aria: Huh? Oh, right. The fic. Um...*consults notes* this chapter is mainly Yami, and a few of the Ohtori Academy types, although there should be some...um...exposition...near the end. *grins evilly*  
  
Yami: Oh, dear.  
  
Aria: And now! Onwards and upwards! And et cetera, et cetera, et cetera. Bring on the Snapple, and let's get started!  
  
************  
  
SECRETS OF A ROSE  
Chapter 5: Swords  
  
Yami couldn't sleep.  
  
He lay on his back in the warm dark, staring at the ceiling, his hands behind his head. He'd tossed and turned when he first realized he wouldn't be sleeping, but he'd heard Yugi stir in the next room over, and stopped so he wouldn't wake the other boy with his restlessness.  
  
So he had turned onto his back and opened his eyes into the darkness, and wondered why he couldn't sleep. He came up with no good answer-restless, exhausted thinking has a tendency to go in circles, especially when you need a conclusion in order to attain the cool relief of sleep-so he stopped trying and thought about the recent days that had passed.  
  
He liked the Academy-the crisp greenness of it, the underlying throb of pride and competition. So alive...so different from the world of bronzy-blue skies, swirling sands he had known, and the millennia of dark solitude between that time and this. That afternoon, he'd watched with admiration the girl Utena that Yugi was teaching Duel Monsters, had appreciated the plan that Wakaba had initiated for Joey's help. He saw a certain resemblance to the ancient beings, a certain resonance of the feudal past in the boy Touga-even some in Tea's artist cousin, Miki. Yugi had tried to teach him, too, but the lesson had fallen apart in laughter and promises to be more attentive the next day.  
  
Yami frowned. He couldn't remember having seen Yugi laugh in that way in a while; hadn't seen the younger boy's eyes glow like that in even longer.  
  
He turned over. After the lesson, Yugi had stayed talking with Miki, sitting easily with him under stretching limbs of a newly-budding tree, his pale violet eyes looking up into the artist's crystalline blue ones. Then, he had left for another walk after dinner, and not returned again for hours. When asked where he was, he merely smiled innocently up at Yami and laughed at him for being worried.  
  
Yami turned to his other side, his mind seething. He tried to make sense of it. He wasn't worried, exactly. Of course, he tried to protect his hikari whenever possible-it was the nature of his bond. Surely he didn't mind that Yugi had another friend? His stomach twisted sickly.  
  
Friend, he thought savagely, trying to clear his head of sudden disturbing suspicions.  
  
He supposed what was really bothering him was the careful way Yugi was not letting him into his mind or feelings. What was he afraid of? Yami would keep every secret as if it were his own, sympathize with every thought, every flash of emotion...the way he used to.   
  
He took a breath and sat up, swinging his legs over the side of the bed. Silently he found a shirt and pulled it over his head, retied the drawstring on his gray pants, laced up his boots and stood in the dark. He looked toward the door to Yugi's room, and told himself firmly to leave him alone, then immediately disregarded his warning and moved silently along their link until he was standing just outside Yugi's mind.  
  
He hesitated slightly, and then went in.  
  
The first thing that happened was music. Pure, clean clear music and the dream was saturated with the sweet sadness of it. He recognized the emotion, and was startled at the realization; he'd seen it in every one of Yugi's smiles and in the glances that had been sent his way. He wondered what it meant-perhaps it was why, or because, Yugi no longer trusted him with his thoughts.  
  
The next thing he knew was blue-an overwhelming, crystalline blue and then a young puzzled voice said.   
  
"Yami?"  
  
He jumped and turned to face him. His mouth worked, but no sound came out. Yugi stepped forward, stretching out a hand, but before he could speak or make a move, Yami fled out of his mind and found himself panting on the floor of his room. Behind the solid door between them, he could hear Yugi struggling to wake up, and knew the door would open and he would stand there with sleep, and not accusation, in his eyes.  
  
He couldn't take it. He rose and walked out into the night.  
  
***  
  
Pacing through the clear clean silent darkness, his thoughts twisted and entwined and ripped apart again, leading him in spirals of frustrated inconclusion. The cool air boiled in his wake, flowing out in waves of blue and green; rose-scented and humid. Restless energy flooded him; he walked blindly through the polished buildings, denting dew-dropped manicured lawns with his light boots.   
  
He didn't understand what was happening to his composure. The prospect of one night of insomnia shouldn't have these effects; shouldn't have sent him out onto the night with no destination and no escape. He stopped.  
  
He was standing under the tree he'd leaned against, watching Yugi and Utena laughing in the sunlight, content in his hikari's contentment. Giggles had sounded to his left, on the other side of the tree, and he had looked around cautiously. His eyebrows rose.  
  
"Joey?"  
  
The blonde boy looked up at him through heavy bangs, putting a conspiratorial finger to his lips as the girl next to him smiled, her eyes glowing. Yami stared.  
  
"I...sorry, Joey...I didn't think-" he stammered, but Joey shook his head and beckoned him around to their side.  
  
"Don't look so freaked out, man," he laughed as Yami sat down in front of them. "Trust me, this isn't nearly as bad as it looks."  
  
"I'm sorry...I didn't mean to interrupt anything," Yami said apologetically.  
  
"Actually," Wakaba said, "I think you could probably help us out."  
  
Silence.   
  
They pulled him back down, a terrified look on his face, and laughed at him. "Here's the situation," Joey said, by way of explanation, but stopped there, his cheeks growing warm. He looked to Wakaba for help.  
  
"No sooner had I seen this cute kid here," she said, "than I wanted to get to know him. So, I jumped him yesterday," Yami had a short, sudden vision of Wakaba clinging to Joey's back, yelling "Joey-samaaaaaaaaaaa!" and shook his head clear as she continued, "And got his attention."  
  
"And pulled a couple of muscles," Joey added, contorting with a grimace. She smacked him affectionately and continued.  
  
"However, I soon found out that, much to my disappointment, this specific blondie is already spoken for."  
  
Yami nodded. He'd seen the glances Joey clearly thought were so secretive, and he'd been pained by their lack of response. Wakaba sighed in mock sorrow and continued.  
  
"So, after hearing his sob story, I thought I'd help him out a bit."  
  
"Yeah, she's been great!" Joey enthused. "When I told her about Seto," he blushed, hesitated, and continued when no barrier came up, "she came up with a plan right away. If she can make him jealous by pretending to be all over me, that might swing things my way. But, since we don't know if he, in fact, swings my way, I win anyway, because I finally have closure, plus a seriously cute girl who is clearly falling in love with me." She looked up at him, and he smiled at her with real affection.  
  
Yami nodded. "It's a good plan," he'd admitted. "It might just work to reveal Kaiba's true feelings, Joey. I hope, for your sake, it works. Although," he smiled at Wakaba, "I'd hate to see this little princess be disappointed."  
  
"Don't worry about me," she said brightly. "I'll have every chance to win him over fair and square. But I understand what's at risk for him." She snuggled up to Joey, clasping his arm in hers.  
  
Yami smiled and nodded again. "Did you say I could help?" he asked.  
  
She sat up and grinned. "Yes, you can," she said. "Just wander over that direction, looking shell-shocked, and imply that you saw us doing something unmentionable out of view." Joey went red.  
  
He laughed. "I can do that." And he had. Walked over and flopped down on the grass between Yugi and Kaiba, who was working on some new program and scowling at his computer, and groaned loudly, passing a hand over   
his eyes.  
  
"Yami? What's wrong?"  
  
He'd rolled over and looked up at Yugi, keeping an expression of slight pain on his face. "I made the mistake of going over there," he said, and pointed toward the tree where a blue-jean clad leg could be seen stretching out from behind the trunk.  
  
Utena looked quizzical. "What's over there?"  
  
He'd thrown himself back down and closed his eyes to slits, watching Kaiba. "Joey and Wakaba."  
  
Was it his imagination, or had the typing hesitated for a second? Had the blue eyes flicked up under the brown bangs? He couldn't be sure, but a feeling of triumph spread through him in warm layers.   
  
Yugi made a face and turned back to the game, where Utena was poring over her cards with intense concentration. Yami felt a surge of something like amused pity for her, but it was immediately followed by respect. Anyone who dueled Yugi voluntarily ten minutes after learning the rules demanded it, and he watched in amusement as she selected two cards to play-one, a monster to defend her life points against Yugi's Celtic Guardian, and another face down. He frowned. She'd put Silver Fang into attack mode, the wolf snarling with raised hackles at the solemn Celtic Guardian. He shook his head as the Guardian charged-with two hundred more attack points than the wolf it was attacking, Utena's life points would shatter just like her defender. The Guardian brought up his sword in the killing blow, and the wolf leapt to meet it, white teeth flashing. He caught Utena's smile as she flipped over her other card, revealing the trap Reinforcements, and pointed towards the leaping wolf. His teeth came together and the Celtic Guardian, looking surprised, shattered into thousands of glittering pieces.  
  
Yugi looked shocked, than laughed. "Good move, Utena," he said. "Reinforcements adds 500 attack points to your monster, and you didn't even have to summon a stronger one. Great!" She smiled.  
  
"It worked that time," she admitted, "but not even a Rose Prince can defeat a King of Games."  
  
"And the king would be nothing without his Pharaoh," Yugi had laughed. Yami stiffened in the dark, feeling again the sudden twisting of his heart. He had smiled and almost joined in the teasing when Yugi went red. His heart beat faster...no, not his heart. Yugi's. He looked in the direction his hikari was avoiding so studiously, but saw nothing more than Tea's cousin, Miki, done with his practicing and come to join them outside.   
  
Yami frowned in the dark, and slid against the tree trunk, ending seated on the ground as he went back over the afternoon. Yugi laughing, Yugi blushing, teaching Miki the rules he had taught Utena. When the other boy had grasped the basic idea of the game, he'd sifted through the cards with Utena, their eyes glowing. He'd asked them what they were looking for.  
  
"Yugi and Joey and Kaiba all have cards they identify with," Utena explained. "I've been looking for mine in these two games with Yugi, but I haven't found it yet." Yami had smiled.  
  
"It'll take time to find the card that fits you most," he said. "But if you continue, eventually you'll find one that means as much to you as the Dark Magician does to Yugi."  
  
"What's yours?" she had asked, her blue eyes questioning. Yami had stammered, and smiled to hide his confusion.  
  
"I...don't have one."  
  
She'd looked at him quizzically, but was interrupted by Yugi asking if she and Miki would like to duel.  
  
They had looked at each other quickly, and then Miki had turned away with a blush of confusion, explaining that he wasn't ready to duel anyone at all, and Utena had relaxed into her usual easy going nature, but Yami had seen the flash of panic on the face of one, and the pain on the other.  
  
Yami shook his head, and got up, stalking through the warm night. Before him was a large building, a few lighted windows and an opened door invited him in. He walked along simple corridors, past wooden doors and finally found himself before opened double doors, beyond which a hardwood floor glistened in the pale light of a few electric lamps. He stepped inside the gym and looked around, too late to see the wooden sword swinging his way. It caught him in the stomach, and he reeled backwards, gasping. Immediately the sword clattered to the floor, and a slim pale hand stretched out to support him.  
  
"Are you all right? I'm sorry, I didn't see you there."  
  
"I'm all right," he grunted, his pride flaming up as he straightened up and saw his assailant clearly. She looked at him solemnly through disinterested blue eyes. Now that he was up and recovering, her hand slipped from his shoulder, and she bent to pick up her practice sword from the floor, checking it over as deep golden hair slid out from its holder. He looked at her.  
  
"Have we...met before?"   
  
She swung the sword a few times and he felt the moving air brushing against his sleep-deprived state like water. "I saw you when you first got here...when Touga and Miki were showing you around the campus." She held the sword easily in one hand and held the other out to him. "Arisugawa Jury," she said. He shook the proffered hand.  
  
"My name is Yami." Her eyebrow twitched, but she said nothing, and crossed the room to put the practice sword up on its pegs, taking down a slim steel foil and testing the weight, balancing it lightly with a loose wrist.  
  
"And do you not sleep, Yami?"  
  
"Not tonight," he said. "And neither, apparently, do you."  
  
She whipped the blade through the air before her a few times. "Not tonight," she said, and shot him a small grin.  
  
"You certainly know your way around swords," he said, gesturing to the walls filled with wooden practice swords, gleaming foils and slim rapiers.  
  
"I should," she said. "I'm the captain of the fencing team here. Miki and I often come here to practice for duels."  
  
"Duels?"  
  
She smiled grimly. "It's a long story," she said. He wondered what it meant, this aversion, or rather, obsession, with duels at this place.  
  
He sat down with his back against a wall. "I've got plenty of time," he said, and rested his forearms across his knees, his fingers interlacing. She stopped moving into positions and looked at him.  
  
"Why do you look so much like Yugi? Are you brothers? What about that puzzle he wears around his neck?"  
  
He smiled. "Point taken. Shall we exchange stories, then?"  
She thought for a second and turned around. He shrugged, and was about to say something when she turned towards him with a smirk on her face and tossed a sheathed blade into his lap.  
  
"If you can last five minutes against me, then yes."   
  
He stood slowly up, hefting the blade in his hands, and feeling the cool weight of it. How many millennia since he had held a sword...? He drew it out, the shivering sound of steel on the smooth sheath sending coppery vibrations through his hand. "It's been a while since I've used one of these," he remarked, looking at the slim blade, a rapier, unlike her lighter foil. She quirked an eyebrow and shrugged. He grinned.  
  
***  
  
Clash of steel on steel, they pushed against each other, gasping for breath. She was strong-slim and athletic-and a far finer swordsman than he'd ever been. It took all his agility and strength just to counter her first blow; she'd surprised him with her speed. She was a vicious duelist, her eyes growing hard and bright with each swing of the swords and each metallic shiver as they came together. His arms were aching, his legs protesting. The duel had been defensive for him from the beginning, and now he kept going, blocking her movements as best he could out a sudden stubbornness, a demand to hear the story of these hard and charming students, the Council, the duels that must take place here.  
  
His arm gave out; he sank to a knee on the polished floor as the point of his blade fell and clicked against the hardwood. Jury stood before him and let her foil down easily, wiping sweat from her forehead with one white sleeve.  
  
"Could use Miki and his stopwatch now," she said, and went to her pile of belongings. "That was definitely five minutes, though," she said, and tossed him a bottle of water. He drank gladly and tossed it back to her. "Congratulations, not many people last that long against me."  
  
"Your story," he said.  
  
She sat across from him and leaned back against a post with a sigh. "I'm sorry, Yami," she admitted. "I can't tell you the whole story...I don't know it myself. All I know is that those of us who wear the rose seal," she flashed the ring on her left hand, "are impelled to duel for the privilege of the Rose Bride, and revolution."  
  
He sat quietly, absorbing this strange information. She took another drink of water.  
  
"Whoever wins the duel is engaged to the Rose Bride, and comes that much closer to bringing the world revolution." She looked over at him, and grinned at the bemused look on his face. "You've met her, I think. Himemeya Anthy, the strangest and probably the most powerful of us all."  
  
"Himemeya?" he said doubtfully. He'd seen her in the shade, playing with an odd animal and giggling.  
  
Jury nodded. "There's something about her no one can explain," she said. "It seems to me that she represents whatever we...most desire. A person, a thing, an idea. Miki used to love her, she was his shining thing. Saionji-well, you never met Saionji. He was suspended for what he did to her-because of her."  
  
"What was she to you?" Yami asked. His heart thumped painfully. Miki used to love her? Shining thing?   
  
She was quiet, and her eyes hardened. Yami realized her short burst of opening up was over. "She was nothing to me," she said, harshly. "Merely a duty." Her fingers crept toward her neck and played idly with a narrow gold chain that glinted against her skin. She looked up with a smirk. "And you? Where did you come from?"  
  
If she wasn't going to tell everything, he wouldn't either. "I don't know," he admitted. "Much of my past had been erased from my memory. The only clues I have are in Yugi and his friends."  
  
Her eyes narrowed.   
  
He relented. "I come from...a very long time ago," he said. "There is a particularly strong connection between myself and Yugi-it has a lot to do with the puzzle he wears around his neck. Yugi found me," he said, and remembered the first time he'd awoken-not in the scratching heat of the desert or in the clammy cold of a forgotten tomb, but surrounded by warmth, purple light, and an innocent mind questioning his own. He smiled at the memory. "Yugi is like my own personal miracle," he said, and looked up at his companion.  
  
She stood. Stiffly, she turned away and gathered her things. Turning around, she hefted her backpack over one shoulder and looked at him coldly.  
  
"There are no such things as miracles," she said, and walked out into the dark hallway, leaving Yami with only more confused thoughts than ever.  
  
************  
  
Aria: Wow. That was really long...by the way, I wrote this while fighting with insomnia myself-albeit for vastly different reasons! Because I'm not in love with Yugi...or Yami...or Miki...*shifty eyes*  
  
Joey: Yah, sure.  
  
Aria: *brightly* Well, I certainly can't wait to get started on YOU, Joey. *waggles eyebrows*  
  
Joey: *pales*  
  
Aria: Anyway, please read and review! I need all the encouragement and ideas I can get! *tools off to write the sixth chapter, giggling maniacally* 


	6. Concert

Aria: Wow, it's been a while since I've thought about this story!  
  
Kaiba: It's been a month, you twit.  
  
Aria: *shrugs* Hey, I've been busy, Kaiba. And this was a particularly eventful one. But, leaving that behind for now, I'm back with another *warning: FLUFFY* chapter of Secrets...yay, piano music and fluff. And Yami angst!  
  
Yami: *glares*  
  
Aria: Sorry, Yami, but let's face it...you are an angsty character.  
  
Yami: *starts to say something, then thinks about it and nods and shrugs*  
  
Yugi: *starry eyes* Piano music...?  
  
Aria: Oh, yes. You will enjoy this chapter, Yugi. Even if Yami doesn't. And he REALLY won't.  
  
Yami: I hate you.  
  
Aria: You do NOW...but later...anyway, people don't want to read these little dialogues, they want to read the story! I hope...so, in light of that...  
  
Bakura: *winces* MUST you use "light"?  
  
Aria: Sorry. Um, because of that, we need to get started! So, I need someone to do the disclaimer---and I have just the person in mind! So, Lorrie, if you will...  
  
Lorrie: *blinks* Huh? What am I doing here?   
  
Aria: Read this.  
  
Lorrie: Um...okay...this is the disclaimer. In other words, Aria doesn't own Yu-Gi-Oh! or Revolutionary Girl Utena, although if anyone knows a way she can meet Touga...  
  
Aria: *blushes and snatches the paper away* Um, okay, that's great, thanks. And for your troubles...*snaps fingers* *Darcy appears*   
  
Darcy: *bewildered, but going with it* Back again, eh?   
  
Lorrie: *simpers*   
  
Aria: Yeah. Um, have fun!   
  
Lorrie: *is escorted away by Darcy, who starts to profess his undying love for her*   
  
Aria: Um. Also, here's a shameless plug for my new story, Persuasion, which is all about Kaiba and Joey. Because I LOVE them. And they love each other. And it makes me happy.   
  
Everyone: *glares*  
  
Aria: Um, yeah, so, here goes...  
  
***  
  
SECRETS OF A ROSE  
Chapter Six: Concert  
  
"I can't believe we're going to this concert!" Yugi said as he struggled with his dress shirt before a mirror, glancing nervously at his dark-blue dress pants and still-damp hair. "This is a fantastic opportunity. Do you know the kind of people who GO to these things?"  
  
Yami, in the adjoining room, brushed a few long dark hairs off his jacket before swinging it on and straightening it over his shoulders, and replied through the open door.  
  
"Calm down, Yugi. We'll all be there, as well as the Student Council members. I know this is an important concert, but try not to get too worked up about it." He ran pale fingers through his wild hair, and his dark eyes gazed at his reflection impassively. After his night of sleepless wanderings, he had dozed for a while and woken with bleary eyes and a foul temper. The last thing he wanted to do right now was to go and listen to Miki Kaoru play the piano...but Yugi was so excited about it. And after all, he smiled wryly; a little socializing never did any harm.   
  
He cast a last critical eye at the mirror, taking in the slim black dress pants, the silvery shirt, the well-cut jacket. His eyes burned feverishly with lack of sleep, and he rubbed them hard to clear them before going into Yugi's room.  
  
The smaller boy was fussing with his shirt, tucking it into the black pants. He glanced back at the spirit, and smiled. "I'll be ready in just a second," he promised, and reached for a bottle of cologne.   
  
Yami sat on the bed and waited, watching with interest the small, quick hands running through the thick wild hair, the way the smooth material of his deep blue shirt tugged against his flat shoulder blades and pulled at the small of his back, how the first two buttons were undone so that the neck of the shirt fell slightly open, how the pale skin of his neck shone through. Yugi gave himself a last glance, then turned to face Yami with a worried expression.  
  
"How do I look?"  
  
Yami got up, and walked around his smaller half with a mock-serious expression, nodding solemnly and muttering to himself. He stopped in front of the smaller boy and looked at him with a grim expression.  
  
For a second Yugi paled, then he laughed and swung at Yami good-naturedly. "Good," he said. "Let's go meet up with the others."  
  
***  
  
They walked through rose-scented evening air, talking and laughing together, and Yami was content, the fears of the sleepless night before vanishing under the warmth of Yugi's smile. They were one, inseparable. He would never doubt their bond again.   
  
The others were waiting for them at the entrance to the glass house near the middle of campus. Looking at them, Yugi was amazed. Tea was wearing a slinky shiny blue gown he'd never seen before, and for some reason Tristan, who was standing just behind her in a slightly awkward suit, couldn't seem to talk.   
  
"Wow, Tea," Yugi said in admiration as they walked closer. She blushed. Kaiba, standing slightly to one side, wearing a long black coat over his pristine formalwear, grimaced, just slightly, but there was no malice in it. Instead, he looked preoccupied, even more distant than usual, but as Yugi and Yami joined the group, he surprised them all by turning and joining into the conversation with a small smile.  
  
Even Joey, standing near Tristan with Wakaba clinging to one arm, looked marginally less scruffy than usual, his blond hair combed and tamed into sleek submission, the honey color of Wakaba's dress making his eyes glow.  
  
Tea looked at her watch. "We've got to go," she announced. "Touga said that he'd arranged a ride for us, and it should be at the front gate in a few minutes." Chatting happily, they walked together to meet their ride.  
  
While walking along, Yami spotted a rose bush growing near the path and veered towards it, picking out a rose freshly bloomed, and brought it back, holding it out to Yugi with a smile.  
  
The smaller boy looked at questioningly, and Yami sighed and tucked into the boys lapel, rewarded by one of his smaller half's open smiles.   
  
The rose, soft yellow petals rimmed in deep red, glowed in the dying sunlight.  
  
***  
  
Music washed over him, sweet, sad, joyful, aching. The round room was filled with silent people, and the music, clear and sweet, swept over them in flooding crescendos and aching phrases. Every now and again, a particularly heart-wrenchingly beautiful note or tone would sound, and Yami would clasp his hands into fists, only relaxing when the moment had passed. He looked around to see how the others were reacting. Tea and Tristan were sitting close together, her dress wrinkling against his pant leg, and their hands, which, last time he'd looked, were laid in their laps, were now firmly clasped together, the fingers entwining with each other; Tristan's long, strong fingers tenderly playing with Tea's small slim ones, while their eyes remained front, watching Miki play.   
  
He smiled, and looked past them to where Joey sat with his arm around Wakaba, her gleaming chocolate brown hair catching the warm blue light of the stage. Her head fit perfectly on his shoulder, and he rested his head on hers, the crook of his neck and jaw cushioned by her shining hair. Behind them, Kaiba sat with President Touga, two intimidating, seductive presences. His blue eyes were steadily set at a level just higher than Joey's bent golden head, but he held himself even stiffer than usual. Although, Yami thought, that could have been from the near presence of Arisugawa Jury, a blazing, cold beauty in her deep red silk gown.  
  
A shift at his right caused him to look over at Yugi, who sat next to him, gazing intently at the stage. The blue light was caught in his clear violet eyes, making them darker and deeper than before, and he leaned forward to catch every note as it slipped from under the fingers of the boy on the stage.   
  
Yami's heart tripped. He turned his eyes back to the stage, the music and the warm blue light forgotten in a moment of freezing anguish.  
  
He had felt enraptured attention straining through his mind and body; an infatuated fascination had seized him, and as it slid away again, he had known it wasn't himself feeling it.  
  
It was Yugi.  
  
He sat in solitude for the rest of the performance, the clean sweeping music no longer marking any hold on him, his thoughts deep inside himself, swirling in agonized patterns reminiscent of last nights insomnia. No wonder Yugi had been edging away from him in their link---in that one moment of unguarded emotion, Yami had seen---felt---the entire, soul-wrenching truth, and as they stood to applaud the shyly blushing Miki, numbness washed through him. He didn't feel his hands as they mechanically hit, didn't see the glow Yugi's violet eyes held---and yet he was immediately and painfully aware, afterwards, in an adjoining room where they were served champagne and small crackers, that the rose he had handed to Yugi earlier from the evening was now gone from the lapel he had placed it in---was being offered, with a trembling heart, to the suddenly pale Miki.  
  
His clear blue eyes widened as he turned to see the rose before him, and as they traveled from the soft, glowing petals to the delicate hand that held it, his cheeks went from pale to faintly blushed, and finally back to a normal color. His body relaxed, and he smiled at Yugi, whose mind swirled in joy.  
  
Yami turned away, only to be confronted with an arrogant upwards flick of a silky red brow.   
  
"You look as though you weren't enjoying yourself," Touga commented, a champagne flute grasped gracefully in one long-fingered hand. Yami had no answer, and stared back levelly.   
  
The taller boy shrugged, and their growing silence flooded the space between them, until suddenly he stiffened, his eyes widening for a second before returning to their usual laconic state. Yami looked around with interest, trying to think what could dent the solid grace of the President's bearing---but he saw only the entrance of Utena, the girl-prince, and Himemiya Anthy.   
  
Utena moved with an easy grace through the throngs of people, her large clear eyes smiling on Miki, and she forced her way to his side, thumping his shoulder with a casual strength. The delicate boy winced a little, and Yami watched as he laughed, and talked with Utena, Himemiya---and Yugi.  
  
"Excuse me," he heard Touga say, as he moved smoothly past towards the small clump of people. Yami found himself standing alone, with a half empty glass of sparkling wine. He turned and put the glass down on a windowsill, stared at his reflection for a long second, then straightened and walked out of the room, into the rose-scented night.  
  
***  
  
Laughing and talking loudly, the group moved slowly through the front door and into the warmly lit hallway. They looked behind expectantly, until a flushed Joey ran up, his tie loose and flapping on his chest.  
  
Tea's eyebrow arched. "That was a pretty intense goodnight, there, Joey," she commented, looking at his slightly disheveled state. "You ARE going to see her again tomorrow, you know."  
  
He grinned easily and held up his hands in defense. "Hey, I can't help it. She finds me irresistible."  
  
"And who wouldn't?" Tea said dryly, but a smile quirked around her mouth. She didn't know where this whole Joey and Wakaba thing was going, but it was good to see him enjoying himself for once, instead of mooning over Kaiba.   
  
She glanced at the taller boy, who hadn't moved at all during the conversation except to hang his coat on a hook by a large mirror. She could see him in the reflection as he shook out of the second arm and hung the coat carefully, and then---she blinked, and it was gone, he turned around and glared at them all before wishing them a curt goodnight.  
  
She shook her head slightly. She must have been mistaken.  
  
After all, Seto Kaiba didn't believe in tears.  
  
She glanced around. Tristan was ragging on Joey, but she could see the wide grin on his face. He was as delighted by this turn of events as she was, adding extra emphasis to his headlock as he tackled Joey. They went down with a thud and began wrestling on the floor as Yugi and Miki came in.  
  
Her cousin looked down curiously, but shrugged and looked back up at her. She smiled, and applauded softly.  
  
"That was a wonderful concert Miki," she said, and sighed happily. "I'm so glad we came here! What a great place Ohtori is. It's way better than anything we would have done in Domino."  
  
He started, and relaxed, and she frowned a bit. Miki had always been a little nervous, but he seemed tenser now than she'd ever seen him before. He ran a hand through his hair and smiled, before stepping over Joey and Tristan and offering her his arm.  
  
As they walked away, Yugi bent down and tried to pry Tristan away from Joey, laughing at their antics.   
  
"Come on, guys," he said. "It's really late. Can't this wait until tomorrow?"  
  
Joey glared at his friend. "Of course not. You know he's too stupid to remember anything for more than three seconds unless I beat it into that pointy head of his."  
  
"You little-" and they were off. Yugi sighed, and stepped carefully over them towards the stairs, his room, and sleep.  
  
In his room, he wondered idly what had happened to Yami, and went to the spirit's room. Poking his head around the doorway, he looked around the silent room.  
  
"Yami?"  
  
Opening the door a little wider, he looked into the other room, but didn't see a sign of Yami anywhere. He shrugged, and went back into his room, pausing in front of his mirror, smiling to himself.  
  
A knock sounded on his door, and he jumped.  
  
It came again, soft and hesitant, and he moved to the door to open it.  
  
A rush of piano notes glittered past him, he saw blue swirling towards him, and then there was Miki, standing in the hall, looking painfully self-conscious.  
  
Yugi blinked, and stared for a second, his heart thudding and making his head spin. The other boy fidgeted awkwardly.  
  
"I just thought I'd..." He trailed off, putting one hand behind his head, and frowned to himself. He'd had something to say, but he couldn't remember what, exactly, it was, now that he was standing here with Yugi looking at him expectantly. He tried again. "I was thinking..."  
  
They looked at each other, and he felt himself break.  
  
"I should go," he said, softly, but when he tried to turn away, he found he couldn't do it, couldn't move one foot before the other, and when he looked back, and met Yugi's wide eyes, he found he didn't want to after all.  
  
He smiled.  
  
"Do you mind if I come in for a second?" he said.  
  
***  
  
Having finally escaped the clutches of Tristan, Joey stumbled into his room, grinning from ear to ear, his hair flopping crazily over his face. He went to the dresser and unbuttoned his shirt, laying it carelessly on the top of the polished wood when he bent to untie his shoes.  
  
He looked back up into the mirror, and jumped, his heart suddenly racing.  
  
"You looked pretty happy tonight, mutt," Kaiba said from his position, leaning lazily on the doorframe, his arms crossed over his chest and his long legs stretching across the door to the opposite post.   
  
Joey turned, feeling suddenly, acutely conscious of his shirtless chest as he met Kaiba's calm, arrogant gaze. He blushed hotly, and immediately was angry for blushing, so he looked sharply away, gathering a towel and his toothbrush. His gaze fell on his shirt, piled in a pool of soft fabric against the mirror.  
  
"What's it to you," he muttered. Kaiba's eyebrow came up.  
  
"What's it to me? Pup, don't you know I'm always looking for your well-being?" The rough voice mocked him---he burned, his flush spreading across the back of his neck, under the shaggy-smooth hair that fell loosely against his now warm skin.  
  
"After all," Kaiba went on, "it's not as though I can depend on you to make the right decisions---or any at all, for that matter---and do you know how hard it is to keep an eye on a scraggy mutt like you? Maybe I should invest in one of those shock collars for you...I really shouldn't let you out to bother the people in the area."  
  
Joey looked up, anger flaring in his face, but didn't meet the icy eyes that watched him so coolly. He directed his remarks to the empty area just in front of and to the left of Kaiba's face.  
  
"Ya know, if I'm so below your notice, you might as well leave me alone, Kaiba. You never know...maybe someone else has adopted me. I'm not your puppy anymore."  
  
He didn't see Kaiba's eyes shift uncomfortably.  
  
He took a better grip on his towel, and moved to the door---but wasn't really surprised when an arm came up, barring the doorway and blocking him as he tried to go past.  
  
He looked down into the hall.  
  
"Let me go, Kaiba."  
  
The taller boy leaned down arrogantly and hissed in his ear, warm breath attacking his neck.  
  
"Are you trying to make me jealous, Pup?"  
  
A flush, and then Joey paled, his eyes shifting wildly as he looked straight ahead. He felt himself pressing against the arm that held him in, felt the warm breath on his ear and couldn't push past.  
  
"Is that it?" Kaiba continued. Was that---panic? In his voice? Before he had time to wander, Kaiba had moved his arm, grabbed him by the shoulders, shoved him into the opposite doorpost so hard he felt it sting solidly between his shoulder blades.  
  
They stood, tense, faces inches apart, and now he could see that the blue eyes weren't cold at all; they were blazing hotly with anger. Vaguely, he realized that he was seeing Kaiba lose control, and he wondered what it meant, when such iron self-control was tossed aside as was now happening, but then Kaiba pushed his face right up to Joey's.  
  
"You are mine, mutt. No one else's."  
  
He looked up, into the heated---feverish---eyes, and felt his own harden. He reached up to push Kaiba away, pushed him back and took a step before Kaiba recovered, grabbed him by the shoulder nearest him, and he was spun, shoved up against the doorpost again and Kaiba moved forward quickly, sharply---his hands entwined in the mass of golden hair---crushed his lips to Joey's.  
  
His head spun, stars exploded from the pain in his back and the surprise at the kiss, taken aback by its violence, by what it meant. His heart thudded hard against his bare chest, he could feel the buttons of Kaiba's shirt pressing into his skin, could feel, as he brought his hands up to the taller boy's back, the muscles working underneath the smooth shirt. He flattened his hands across Kaiba's back, pulling him closer, closer---  
  
Kaiba pulled away, looked at the flush and the fevered eyes, ran a hand quickly down the smooth bare chest and watched with interest the goose bumps that appeared on Joey's arms. He brought his forehead to Joey's, silky brown hair mixing with shaggy golden, grasped the back of the other boy's head.  
  
"Mine."  
  
He pushed away, and walked down the hall towards his own room, the hallway swirling slightly around him. His pulse was thundering, hot blood being pushed frantically through his body, but he walked calmly away, leaving Joey limp against the doorway, with the towel and toothbrush lying forgotten on the floor.  
  
***  
  
"So what's up?" Yugi asked as Miki came into the room. The other boy hesitated, looking down at the floor, his long lashes standing out against his pale skin. He sat on the bed, and shrugged.  
  
"I'm not really sure," he said, and smiled shyly at Yugi, who crossed the room and sat cross-legged on the bed, bouncing slightly and watching him with interest.  
  
He looked away, a flush beginning to spread over his cheeks. "I just wanted to talk, I guess." Yugi nodded, and sat watching the color fade slowly from Miki's cheeks. The silence deepened, and he shifted, accidentally brushing against Miki's hand as it lay on the soft comforter.   
  
A glissando of notes, shivering up and down the scale.  
  
Miki's head jerked up, and he looked at Yugi piercingly. The wide violet eyes enthralled him---he longed to touch such purity, such innocence. Unknowing, he reached out and almost touched the pale face next to him.  
  
The heat of Miki's slim hand warmed his skin---he sat motionless, his heart beating wildly, his eyes widening.   
  
He didn't notice when Yami opened the door between their rooms and stepped inside.  
  
The spirit stopped dead, apologetic words souring on his tongue as he watched Miki reach to Yugi, watched Yugi's eyes warm, and then blaze. He clutched his chest as Yugi's heart thudded painfully faster and faster. He watched Miki steel himself, felt the agonizing slowness as their heads came closer together, felt Yugi's abandon as Miki closed his eyes and gently brought his lips down---so soft---on to his.  
  
Yami felt sick, numb, heavy as the caution fled from Yugi's mind and he felt the weight of the lightly brushing emotions that ran through and across the smaller boys soul. He turned and moved to the door, leaning heavily against the frame as his eyes burned.  
  
If he hadn't known better, he might have thought he was crying.  
  
***  
  
Aria: Wow, that took a while to write! I knew where I wanted it to end up...but it took a long time to get there! How did you guys like it? *looks around*  
  
Yugi: *starry eyed* Huh?  
  
Yami: Yugi? Aibou?   
  
Joey: I...uh...*shifty eyes*  
  
Kaiba: *practically purring* I told you not to trifle with me...  
  
Aria: Oh, you're not in the clear yet, Kaiba.  
  
Kaiba: What?!?  
  
Yami: Aria...!  
  
Aria: *shifty eyes* What?  
  
Yami: *confers with Kaiba, they nod and step towards Aria*  
  
Aria: Now boys...  
  
Touga: *steps in front of them...sexily* Play nice, boys.  
  
Yami/Kaiba: *growl, and slink away*  
  
Aria: *starry eyed* Thanks, Touga...  
  
Touga: *smiles...sexily*  
  
Aria: ...Uh, yeah. So, please, PLEASE read and review! I need motivation to finish this, so I can concentrate on my other fics (shameless plug for Persuasion). Cheers! *glances at Yami and Kaiba, and steps back slowly* Now, boys... 


	7. Tears

Aria: Yay! I finally have time to write again! The play and school were sucking my soul away...  
  
Yami: I'LL suck your soul away, you little...  
  
Aria: *pales* Um...play nice? Look, I'm SORRY!   
  
Yami: *folds his arms and glares*  
  
Aria: *backs away* I swear, it'll all work out in the end...besides, you THRIVE on angst. It's your natural state of being.  
  
Juri: She's right, you know.  
  
Joey: OH, like YOU'RE one to talk, Miss I-don't-believe-in-miracles.  
  
Jury: Shut up, little man.  
  
Aria: Um, okay. Let's get on, shall we? So...disclaimer...hmm...oh, yes! *snaps fingers*  
  
Aragorn son of Arathorn: *appears* Huh? This isn't Gondor! Hey, this isn't my story! What am I doing here?  
  
Aria: *staring* Uh...I...um...no! It isn't your story, but would you please read this for me?  
  
Aragorn: *looks at the paper, then at Aria* You brought me here to read a DISCLAIMER? I'm going to be King, you twit! I have more important things to do!  
  
Aria: *big anime eyes* Please?  
  
Aragorn: *sighs* Fine. Aria doesn't own Yu-Gi-Oh or Revolutionary Girl Utena, or me, thank God.  
  
Aria: That's right. You belong to Tolkein!  
  
Aragorn: What? Who?  
  
Aria: Um...never mind! Thanks for dropping by! Have fun killing orcs! *Aragorn disappears* Alright, let's get this show on the road! I bring to you...  
  
SECRETS OF A ROSE Chapter 7: Tears  
  
They flooded down his face in steaming drops, silent and salty and wretched, falling from his delicate chin on to the silvery shirt he still wore, staining it with salt. Behind him, Yugi and Miki sat unknowing, oblivious to his presence, and when he felt how the slim boys hand felt softly up the jaw line of his other half, he fled the room, walking swiftly down the carpeted hallway with hot tears blinding his pained eyes.   
  
His pace quickened---he had to get away, had to get far enough away that his breaking heart wouldn't be felt, that the link would too weak for Yugi to feel it, that it wouldn't interrupt---  
  
---interrupt---  
  
He sank to his knees and clutched at his chest, his eyes widening in pain as his heart---broke---shrieked within him. Silently he wrestled, wrapping his arms around his chest and gasping for breath.  
  
Staring at the rich carpet beneath him, he watched the tears drop silently onto the thick material and fought away the image that burned in his mind.  
  
Lips coming softly together---  
  
His heart cried.  
  
Yugi broke away, his eyes suddenly widening. Miki sat up, his heart suddenly thudding faster than he could handle, racing away in his chest, and his eyes clouded with the overflow of blood before he could shake it away.   
  
"Wha---what's wrong? I---I---I'm sorry---I'm so sorry if---"  
  
Yugi clutched his small fist to his chest, the knuckles whitening under the stress.   
  
"My heart." His cheeks were flushed, his eyes snapped shut, grimacing with each new wave of pain. Breathing heavily, he slowly lifted heavy lids and looked up into Miki's shocked bright eyes, his own lazy with pain.   
  
"Yugi..." Miki said, his hand clenching. "What's happened? Can I help?"  
  
For a little while, there was silence, harshly ragged with the heavy breaths Yugi was taking as tears threatened to spill from his darkened violet eyes. He gasped as it tore at him, flailing wildly.   
  
"Yugi!"   
  
He opened his eyes. The room was dark, he couldn't see. Someone bent over him, soft hair falling in shades of gray over a shadowed face.   
  
"Miki?"  
  
He didn't respond, his colorless eyes frozen in a worried stare.  
  
"Miki!"  
  
Grasping the boy's shoulder, he shook him, hard, the burning pain forgotten as he tried to shake Miki back into the world.   
  
He didn't respond, didn't even move except to passively snap back and forth as Yugi shook him. He let go, appalled, and looked around in disbelief.   
  
The room had been stripped of all its color and comfort---even the mirror didn't gleam the way it had earlier. Hard and gray, chilled, it waited miserably in the shadows, and as he slipped off the bed to silently land on the soft carpet, the silence broke in a single, choked, sob.  
  
He swallowed the cry in his throat, silenced the answering groan that threatened to come from his numbed chest, and listened.   
  
There.  
  
Again, a ragged breath, an almost scream this time that made him sick and weak.   
  
From the hall.  
  
He padded over to the door, which was standing, for some reason, open, and looked out into the gloomy hallway. He squinted.  
  
A shape was huddled a few meters away---hard to make out in the gathering darkness, but it seemed to be the best bet---it shook, and he stepped back, startled, as another grinding sob rose reluctantly.  
He moved forward, his heart crying with every new breaking sob and rasping gasp, until he stood immediately behind the figure. He reached out timidly, his delicate hand hesitating just for a second before resting on the shadow's shoulder.  
  
The effect was spectacular---it jumped up and whirled around in a blaze of gold and red and deep, fiery violet, tears dropping hotly from surprised---angry---eyes.  
  
Yugi's eyes widened, the mystery of the burning pain revealed. His hand moved quickly, protectively, to his heart.   
  
"Yami..."  
Black-rimmed eyes narrowed arrogantly. A sharp, bright glow---  
  
He was gone.   
  
***  
  
"I don't understand, Miki," he said later. The other boy had found him kneeling in the hallway, and now they sat together again on his bed, Yugi looking aimlessly at his hands, Miki listening carefully. "He feels totally...gone. I haven't felt this separated from him in...well, never, really. He's always right there, and now he isn't. I can't even imagine what could have happened...he's always been the stronger one of us---he's always known just what to do, and had the courage to do it. I've never seen him snap like that before." He drew his legs up to his chest and looked at his knees, tears threatening to spill from his wide violet eyes.   
  
"That pain was coming from him. I'm surprised I didn't feel it sooner...he must have tried to hide it." He gave a derisive snort. "Figures. He's always there whenever I need some kind of help, but the second he breaks I'm not even allowed in."  
  
Miki nodded, his clear blue eyes clouding slightly with a memory that suddenly veiled the room from his view. A glitter of piano notes...  
  
"I know..." Miki said slowly. "It was almost the same thing with my twin sister, Kozue, and myself, when we first came here. We were so close...inseparable, really, as children."   
  
(A garden, flooded in sunlight).  
  
"She was my everything, and I never felt alone, because I always had her...but something changed...she changed. It seems like everything she does is another pan to hurt me."   
  
(Delicate hands lovingly running over ivory keys in glowing spring sun.)  
"We're still together, but it's different. We used to be like two halves of the same whole, but now...we're like---like---"  
  
"Like light and dark." Yugi's voice was soft and low, but it startled Miki out of his reverie. The stopwatch clicked.  
  
"Yes, exactly," he said, looking at his companion curiously. "Just like you and Yami, it seems. Two things of such an opposite nature that they cannot exist, one without the other." His gaze flicked away, towards the wall and he didn't look at Yugi as he said "this is why you feel the separation...half of you is tearing itself away.   
  
"And you cannot exist as a whole without your other half."  
  
***  
  
Warm morning air flowed around him, flicking drops of sweat from his face and padding his moving body. New morning sun flared in the bronzy-gold of his hair as he ran, illuminating the road before him, and birds erupted into song, erasing the thud-thud of his feet on the blacktop.  
  
(Mine.)  
  
He pushed himself faster, harder; grimacing as his legs ached and his breath burned cold in his throat. His heart pounded furiously.  
  
(Mine.)  
  
"I'm not," he muttered, his breath coming faster now. He'd been running for almost an hour, now, faster with each hill and each time the night before flashed before him.   
  
(Cool blue eyes watching with satisfaction as he tried to push his way past.)  
  
"I'm NOT," he said again, feeling the words grate against his already burning throat, using precious air that his burning muscles cried for. Iron-wrought gates rose before him, and he slowed, steadied, stopped. Entwining his fingers in the complicated iron decoration, he bent his head and shoulders, breathing heavily, his entire body blazing with excess heat and frustration.  
  
"I'm not..." he whispered.  
  
He showered the sweat away, standing for longer than necessary, perhaps, under the steaming hot water. By the time he had toweled dry and dressed, his mind was in no more of a conclusion than it had been while running or during any part of the night before, but he seemed to have acquired a certain numbness that made it easier to exist. The tumult in his head finally quieted, he went outside, looking for Wakaba.  
  
She found him first.  
  
Walking through the rose-scented campus, lost in thoughts, someone called him. He turned with a smile, but what he saw erased it from his face.  
  
"Joey!" Wakaba cried, running up, but said no more, trying to catch her breath. Her cute face was streaked with tears, her eyes clouded with more.   
  
He moved towards her, wrapped his arms around her small frame and felt her shake with sobs.  
  
"What's wrong?" he asked, and she when she kept sobbing, he pushed her away slightly and bent down to look into her eyes.  
  
A bruise blossoming on her cheek caught his attention, and fury flashed through him. Had he...?  
  
"Wakaba," he said, trying to keep his voice steady, " what happened? Did---did someone hit you? What's going on?"  
  
She nodded slightly, her eyes downcast, and he flared with anger. Had Kaiba...?  
  
Her lips moved, but no words came loud enough for him to hear.  
  
"What did you say?" he asked, wiping fresh tears from her cheek, taking care to not press against the tender bruise.  
  
"Utena..." she said softly. His hand froze. New tears flooded silently down her face.  
  
"It was Utena."  
  
***  
  
Aria: I know, I know this was short...but I really didn't need it to be that long, and besides, I really needed to get this chapter up, so I can get back into writing my stories! For those of you who have read Persuasion *cough*READ IT, REVIEW IT*cough*, I'm working steadily on the conclusion to that as well. So...um...yeah. REVIEWS, please! Reviews make me happy and when I'm happy I write! So please review!  
  
Kaiba: Fine, fine. Anything else?  
  
Aria: Actually, yes! If you have a preference as to who people end up with, let me know! I won't promise to go with it, but I'm certainly open to suggestions.  
  
Yami: *cracks his knuckles threateningly*  
  
Aria: *nervously* Ah, yes...*clears throat* Now, Yami... 


	8. Wandering

Aria: It's so nice to be back at school! I think...Anyway, here I am to begin the pivotal eighth chapter of "Secrets" and as I've received no suggestions, I plan to continue with my original idea. But first...  
  
All: *groan*  
  
Aria: *brightly* Yes! Time for...the disclaimer! Now, who to read it today...?  
  
All: *hide*  
  
Aria: Hmm...I've had Lorrie, Darcy, Aragorn, Kaiba, Tristan and Yugi do it so far...ah! *snaps fingers*  
  
All: *look around*  
  
Kaiba: There's no one here, you twit.  
  
Aria: That's what YOU think.  
  
Joey: You mean you're letting the people in your head do it?  
  
Aria: Quiet, you.  
  
Kaiba: You're not serious.  
  
*sound of running footsteps*  
  
Luke: *bursts in* I'm Luke Skywalker and I'm here to resc---Wait. *goes over to Kaiba* This ISN'T the Death Star detention block, is it.  
  
Kaiba: *withering glare*  
  
Luke: And I don't see the Princess...  
  
Aria: Don't worry---I'll send you back in a minute. Would you mind?  
  
Luke: *takes paper* Aria Marier doesn't own Yu-Gi-Oh or Utena...or Star Wars? What's Star Wars?  
  
Aria: Never mind. Now, go save Leia!  
  
Luke: *brightens* yes! And then we'll get married and...  
  
Aria: Um, you may want to rethink that. Bye! *Luke disappears* Also, I'm taking a certain amount of liberty with the timeline and the actual episodes here, so bear with me. Okay, moving on...  
  
SECRETS OF A ROSE  
  
Chapter 8: Duel  
  
The grass was warm and soft under him; almost, almost he could resist   
  
the urge to put down his computer and lie back in it, relax, close his eyes, forget   
  
the world and the business and---  
  
Well. Just relax, because he never did get to do that anymore. His eyes   
  
narrowed at the bland screen before him, the laptop warm on his thighs, and   
  
almost, almost sighed. And if he did, no one hear, would they?  
  
But the temptation was too exquisite, too perfect after nights of tossing   
  
and turning and vibrant dreams in gold and blue and red. Usually his dreams   
  
were colorless---dramatic neural firings, certainly, but always forgettable. They   
  
never meant anything.  
  
And these might not, either. Just because he woke up with colors bursting   
  
before his eyes these days didn't necessarily mean anything. But he closed the   
  
laptop anyway, and if he sighed when he lay back in the grass, under dappled   
  
sunlight, well---  
  
Who would tell?  
  
Nights and days and weeks and months and years of---what?---cold   
  
repression and emotional jail, all catching up in the same few days. All because   
  
of that damned mutt---  
  
Not that he understood that, to be perfectly honest. And fair. To be   
  
perfectly honest and fair, he couldn't explain away the way he steamed when he   
  
saw that stupid grin, or heard that laugh or the tail end of some stupid joke that   
  
the kid obviously thought was funny---especially when he was with that girl.   
  
That brown-eyed one, the one who hung on Joey like he was some kind of god   
  
and simpered at his jokes, ran her fingers through his hair, kissed his cheek.   
  
Even now he could feel his heart thudding a little harder than normal, his   
  
breath coming a little faster, his eyes flitting behind the red-black of his lids. Red   
  
eyes. Black eyes. Blue eyes. Brown eyes.  
  
He exhaled slowly, heavily, wanting to calm down, trying to find that   
  
coolness he'd always been able to depend on before, and he almost got there   
  
when he remembered that he couldn't explain it away, not a bit of it, and the   
  
knowledge made him so angry that he wanted to open his eyes, sit up out of the   
  
damnably soft, relaxing grass, out of the lethargy he'd fallen into, out of his own   
  
inane ramblings in his head and back to solid work; cold and calm and efficient.  
  
And yet---  
  
And yet he didn't. Instead, he went farther into his own thoughts,   
  
following their circles in and down and around and further in. He reacted to the   
  
way the puppy was acting around the girl---or the way the girl was acting   
  
around Joey. The name rang in his head like a slightly uncomfortable tone, a bell   
  
that had been struck too near the listening ear.  
  
And then last night---  
  
Oh God. He didn't want to think about last night---he didn't like the way   
  
his body seized up when he thought about the expression in those honey-clear   
  
eyes, when he thought about the way he'd pushed Joey back how he'd pushed   
  
how he'd---  
  
No.  
  
He flung an arm across his eyes and retreated further.  
  
***  
  
"You've got to be kidding me." Joey's voice went flat, and his knuckles   
  
whitened slightly. Wakaba winced.  
  
"You're hurting me."  
  
He let go immediately, his hands clenching and unclenching sporadically,   
  
his teeth showing whitely as he attempted to grin easily.  
  
Don't scare her, stupid.  
  
"Okay. Okay, Wakaba. It's okay."  
  
Am I really talking to her? Or me?  
  
"Oh-Joey." It came out a hiccup, one word, but her eyes were already   
  
swollen with tears and he didn't think she had any left in her.  
  
Awkwardly he stroked her hair. "Hey. Okay."  
  
A hiccupping sob, and then her breathing steadied. He led her over to a   
  
bench. "Alright," he said, his arm solidly around her back. "What happened?"  
  
She shook her head slowly. "I don't know," she said. "I was just---but he-  
  
--and then she hit me."  
  
He wanted to say something, but since the only rational response---what?-  
  
--wasn't very soothing, he kept quiet. She looked up with a small smile.  
  
"I'm sorry," she said. "I'm not being very helpful, am I?"  
  
He shrugged, and hated that his arm was now so awkward around her.   
  
Had so much changed, really, in one night?  
  
Slowly, through many pauses and hiccups and incoherent sentences   
  
blurred---first by sobs, then by anger---he got the story. How she'd gone to cheer   
  
Utena up at lunch, because she'd seemed so down, how Touga had come over,   
  
the arrogant prick, with Himemiya tagging along, and asked Utena out and she   
  
didn't even do anything, no jokes no flash of temper, nothing. Just stared at   
  
Himemiya.  
  
Finally Wakaba couldn't take it anymore, hauled back and slapped   
  
Himemiya---months of repressed jealousy acting up? Wondered Joey as she told   
  
him this, and then---and then---  
  
And then Utena hit Wakaba. Hard. With finality. And Wakaba, her hand   
  
to her cheek, ran away in stunned disbelief, anger, pain.  
  
She sighed against his chest, the storm through. "It makes me so angry,   
  
the way she obsesses over that girl," she said. "And then the way Touga just---  
  
and she didn't even care!"  
  
Not at all the Utena people knew and loved. Joey nodded again. And   
  
stroked her hair.  
  
And wondered.  
  
***  
  
Music--- beautiful and relaxing and liquid---flowed through the room.   
  
Miki bent his head back, closed his eyes. He suspected that he should be   
  
troubled by the turn of events of the night before, but at this moment, with this   
  
music and the memory of petal-soft lips---  
  
Click.  
  
Milkshakes.  
  
Click.  
  
He smiled. Let the music wash over him, calm and blue and fluid. Liquid   
  
sunshine. Golden rain. Clear clean notes falling like drops of water onto his   
  
face, his eyelids, his mouth.  
  
His mouth. Yugi's mouth...He opened his eyes, frowning. What had   
  
happened? Yami's meltdown andYugi's dismay. The moment shattered.  
  
Click.  
  
Dark halves, light halves. And something about Yugi that he found clear   
  
and calm and deep, a pool with shifting stones at the bottom.   
  
He closed his eyes.  
  
***  
  
/Yami?/  
  
He wandered through the maze of his own mind, surrounded by the   
  
coldness of stone that was his soul. Thick walls and slabs of cold, solid,   
  
unbreakable stone. Like him.  
  
Unbreakable.  
  
/Yami?/  
  
He ignored it. That voice---so sweet and innocent and unassuming---it cut   
  
worse than anything. The pity in it---the pity in Yugi's eyes when they'd looked   
  
at each other the night before was unbearable. It could break him, if he were, in   
  
fact, unbreakable.  
  
/Why won't you let me in?/  
  
He was standing in front of a door, where light spread to his toes from the   
  
area outside. He leaned his forehead against it, listening now to the voice on the   
  
other side. He could almost see Yugi standing there, could, in fact, see the   
  
shadow where the smaller boy stood in the light that came under the door.   
  
Ironic, how his light was casting a shadow---apparently he wasn't that pure after   
  
all.  
  
And as long as he could believe that, he could believe that it didn't hurt   
  
keeping Yugi out of his mind, out of his soul. He ran a hand along the cold stone   
  
of the door, wishing he could open it, knowing he never would, or could. Yugi   
  
couldn't know.  
  
He turned to wander again through his memories.  
  
***  
  
/Yami?/  
  
Yugi was worried. Yami had never shut him out like this, never. They'd   
  
always been two halves of the same whole, and now---  
  
He walked through the gardens of Ohtori, lost in thought, and almost   
  
tripped over Utena, sitting against a wall.  
  
"Ow," she said, without interest.  
  
Trying to regain his balance, Yugi turned.  
  
"Utena? What are you doing here?"  
  
She shrugged.  
  
"Is something wrong?" he asked.  
  
She shook her head, hesitated. Then nodded.  
  
He sat down beside her.  
  
"Tell me."  
  
***  
  
"You."  
  
Miki opened his eyes, and started. Yami was standing before him, arms   
  
crossed and a look of fury on his face. Music skittered through his mind as he   
  
saw the coldness in the eyes that were so like Yugi's.  
  
Click.  
  
"What is it?"  
  
"I want a duel." 


	9. Chance

Aria: Gomen---I'm very sorry for the uncharacteristic delay in continuing this story---to tell the truth, I'd pretty much forgotten about it over the fall, and it's nice to know I can start writing it again and people STILL like it!  
  
Kaiba: Oh, shut up, you self-important twit.  
  
Aria: Pot calling the kettle black, if you ask me, Kaiba. And you'd better be nice---otherwise I might have Joey choose a certain brunette OTHER than you.  
  
Kaiba: Just try it.  
  
Wakaba: *appears and wraps her arms around Joey's waist*  
  
Joey: *brightens* Hey, cool...  
  
Aria: See?  
  
Kaiba: I hate you.  
  
Aria: Oh, Kaiba, you only say that because that's how I write you.  
  
Kaiba: *mutters under his breath and stalks away*  
  
Aria: Excellent! Disclaimer time! *snaps fingers*  
  
Sorata: *appears*  
  
Aria: Fantastic! Okay, Miki, would you do the disclaimer, please?  
  
Miki: What? But he's-  
  
Aria: Here for me! Not for the disclaimer. *snuggles with Sorata*  
  
Miki: *sigh* Fine. This crazy writer doesn't own Yu-Gi-Oh or Utena, or X. So do us all a favor and don't sue her, just put her away in an enclosed room somewhere...  
  
Aria: Enough! Moving right along...  
  
SECRETS OF A ROSE  
  
Chance  
  
*** The night before *  
  
Before her, the dueling arena stretched flat and smooth and cold, white and open. Whiter, even, than the petals that drifted lazily around her feet. Petals from the rose that was now just a nodding, beheaded green stem at her breast, caught in a curl of her hair. Petals Touga had cut from her chest. Petals that took away Anthy.  
  
The sword disintegrated in her limp hand, fading slowly into golden dust that swirled in the rose-scented breeze, and she stood there in disbelief, her heart thudding heavily against her ribs, blood pulsing slowly, thickly, through her body and her thoughts processing just as slowly.  
  
Anthy walked past her---she smelled roses---and went to Touga, who put his arm around her, possessively.   
  
Not protectively.  
  
The world spun.  
  
"It's not true."  
  
She smelled roses as they walked away; smelled roses as she fell to her knees and they bruised and blossomed into exquisite pain.  
  
"It's not true!"  
  
Silver tears fell slowly from her eyes onto the cool marble of the arena. And the petals that lay scattered about her.  
  
***  
Click.  
  
Miki stared at the other boy wordlessly. Yami stood over him, cold violet eyes locked into warm blue. "Wha---what?"  
"Duel," Yami repeated, and his eyes narrowed. "I challenge you, for Yugi."  
  
The words sounded dull and empty even as he said them, and he hoped that the despair behind them wasn't so apparent to the boy before him as he thought it might be. It was a stupid, undeniably stupid move. And yet---  
  
What choice did he have?  
  
All night he'd wandered in the cold, locked stone of his memory, walking lonely down empty dark corridors rank with dust and the smell of old dead things, further and further from the sliver of light that was Yugi. And yet everywhere he went in that massive, winding maze, he could still hear Yugi's voice, echoing, rebounding like sparks, among the stone walls and rooms and corridors. Calling him. Pleading. Unhappy.  
  
He clenched his fists, knowing that if Yugi ever found out about this challenge to Kaoru Miki, he would never trust him again. Ever.  
  
But he couldn't stand to see---to feel---the innocent joy in Yugi's soul when he saw Miki; hated the spark of electricity that passed when they touched. Hated that Yugi had turned to Miki. Hated that he hated it. What right did he have to dictate Yugi's relationships, anyway? And yet---and yet---  
  
"Fight me!" he shouted suddenly, his voice heavy over the light music still saturating the room. Miki jumped slightly, and stood up, drawing away a little.  
  
"No," he said quietly.  
  
No. It wasn't supposed to go this way! He would take the challenge, they would duel. One would win. That one would...would...  
  
"I won't duel for Yugi," came the quiet voice again.  
  
He couldn't take anymore. His legs, once so strong, felt weak and flimsy; his heart, once so cold and unreachable, had reached breaking point too many times.  
  
"You think it will change everything," Miki went on in his soft voice. "But it won't. He could only hate you. Or hate me. Do you really want to bind him that way?"  
  
"What do you mean?" His voice, once so strong and confident, now tried to give him away. It was weak, unsure, broken. Like him.  
  
"If we duel, one of us will win. You suggest dueling for---what? His affections? His love? His companionship? He would never live that way. I'm surprised you would require it of him."  
  
This was too much.  
  
"You're surprised?" he cried. "YOU? You're the one who duels for that Rose Bride, Himemiya. She's nothing better than a slave to her betrothee's will, and yet you're telling me that you can't duel for Yugi?!?" Rage was consuming him. Vaguely he felt the familiar heat suffusing him...he felt stronger, heavier; it rushed through his veins, his blood churned. He wanted to pounce, to transform some of this reckless heat---fury---glittering red and violet emotions---to something tangible. He looked over at Miki, saw the shock in the innocent---so like Yugi's---blue eyes.   
  
Click. That damned stopwatch.  
  
He hated it. Wanted to break it, wanted to brand Miki with some sort of punishment for daring to touch his Yugi, his angel---his light---his love.  
  
Love.  
  
His eyes burned with tears unshed, salty and hot and splitting his vision into thousands upon thousands of sharp rainbow shards.   
  
And then, the heat turned abruptly into something quite different. It left its mad rush through his body, across his vision, running wild just under his skin and settled instead deeply, warmly into his stomach, into his chest.   
  
So this, he thought wildly, this is love.   
  
And I never knew it.  
  
So he was surprised when the hurt in Miki's eyes flared, heated to match his own passionate anger.  
  
"Don't bring Himemiya into this!" he yelled, his blue eyes flashing and snapping in his newly-found anger. He stepped forward, closer---closer---  
  
"Why not, Miki? It's the same thing, after all," Yami said, softly now, because he was no longer sure he wanted to hurt this boy for recognizing the truth before he had. "You know it. You see something in him...something you long for. But, Miki, he can't give that back to you."  
  
Miki flushed, his clear blue eyes darkened momentarily by some invisible memory, but he pushed forward, his young voice cracking slightly with passion. "But you want the same thing!" he spat. "Can you tell me you don't? And you're the one who wants to duel. Would you have Yugi turned into a pawn the way Himemiya is now?"  
  
Listening, a sick chill slid over his heart. Turn Yugi into a pawn? No. The second he'd put the last piece of the Millenium Puzzle---still wet from the pond where Joey had thrown it---into place, his life had no longer been his own. He'd been chosen---Possessed, his mind whispered.   
  
No. Yugi chose that life---chose HIM. Didn't he?  
  
Hadn't he?  
  
***  
  
"Hey. It's okay, Wakaba. It's fine. Really."  
  
Big brown eyes looked up into his, warm and watery with tears and exhaustion. "Really, Joey?"  
  
It twisted his heart. What the hell, he thought uneasily. She's just a kid. Younger, even than him. Maybe Serenity's age. "Really," he said, and smiled down into her face. "But we're not going to make things better by standing around here, so let's see what we can do about it, okay?" She nodded, smiled. Happy again, or at least content. He moved his hand down her arm and twisted his fingers through hers, swinging her hand back and forth as they walked.  
  
"Joey?"  
  
"Hmmm."  
  
"Was there something you were going to say before---um. When I saw you? Just now?"  
  
---A hand, backed by an arm of solid iron, forced him back into the wood of the doorframe. He gasped as the wood hit between his shoulder blades, at the pressure on his chest, at the cold blue eyes studying him not six inches away. Warm breath slid across his cheek.  
  
"Mine."---  
  
"Um," he said, at a loss. "I---"  
  
She stiffened.  
  
"What?" he asked, deeply relieved that he didn't have to answer her, guilty for not telling the truth. Well, what IS the truth? he asked himself, but blocked it, turned it away. He wouldn't----couldn't think about that, not now, not when they'd suddenly stumbled on Utena and Yugi in the middle of what looked like a deep conversation. Not when Utena gave Wakaba a look of pure fright and fled.  
  
But when Wakaba walked after her, and her warm presence was gone, he was suddenly flooded with a million images from the night before, and the way his heart was thudding against his ribs, he didn't think he could keep ignoring it much longer.  
  
"Dammit," he swore silently, and jogged after the two girls, determined to find something he could fix---  
  
And halted, his quick, panicky jog slowing to a walk, before he turned and looked at Yugi, still seated against the wall. I'm needed more here.  
  
"Yugi?" he said, walking over to his friend. "You okay?"  
  
A pause, and then bright violet eyes lifted, smiling and glossy, to his. "Yeah, Joey." His fingers trembled involuntarily---he caught them into a closer grip.  
  
Joey sat down beside him, groaning as his aching muscles bent and stretched.  
  
"Okay," he said, once he was comfortably seated, "spill, Yugi. What's going on?"  
  
***  
  
He only listened, as Miki continued, his voice less sharp, his manner more calm, but his words reflected off Yami's new-found dismay as off silvered glass...the parallels couldn't be avoided. He couldn't duel for Yugi, because that was the same as dueling for the Rose Bride, yet Miki would, and had, and would again duel for the Rose Bride, though he had no idea why, except a fervent admission that he had loved her.   
  
But maybe he hadn't loved her, he continued, just as calmly, because maybe he only loved the ideals of purity and grace that he saw in her...it certainly seemed unlikely that he and Saionji could love the same person, as they were so very different. And he knew that no one, not one of the Council members, not even Touga, knew what she was. There were whispers---rumours---flittings of ideas, but nothing substantial. All was as mysterious and compelling as the Rose Bride herself.  
  
And maybe that purity that he had thought he'd found in Himemiya, maybe it was the purity that he'd seen in Yugi that drew them together. At any rate, he wouldn't duel, wouldn't be forced to.  
  
And he looked at Yami with such pity in his large blue eyes that he could do nothing but stay silent, and listen to the echoing cries in his own mind.  
  
"You won't duel me," he told Miki, looking up at last and standing straight, "but what else can I do? I can only duel. To win everything, or to lose everything. There is no middle ground for me---all must be risked to be gained, or lost forever. But---" he paused, only a slight pause---"We won't duel for Yugi. I won't have him be some prize to be won. But we must duel."  
  
Miki shrugged, his eyes already dim with defeat. "If we must," he said. "But I'm afraid it won't be a fair duel. You would best me easily with your game, and, in swords, I should win easily. What is it to be, then?"  
  
In answer, Yami slid his deck from its case, resting it for a moment on his hand, feeling its familiar weight, and then handing it to Miki and directing him to shuffle it. When he had finished, Yami took the top card, and held it without looking, as Miki also drew.  
  
"The game," he said, "is Chance. Should I win, you have the right to challenge me to what you will---I must comply. If you win, I'll relinquish. These are the rules---the highest attack points wins. If one has drawn a Magic card, that person may draw again. If one draws a Trap, he automatically wins."  
  
Miki nodded, but hesitated to look at his card. Clear blue eyes glimmered in the gathering dusk of the room, outside the evening was just beginning to fall; soft and dim light slipped through the clear windows to gleam now off polished woods and ivory keys, and the few notes that Miki played now dropped into the warm spring dusk as bright pebbles into dark reflecting water.  
  
"You'd risk everything on a card?" he asked, softly, turning his eyes now to the keys before him and running his fingers lightly over them.  
  
Yami nodded. "I trust them," he said. "They haven't ever failed me, and I have no reason to doubt them now. In any case, they're more Yugi's cards than my own. He put this deck together with his grandfather, and his heart and soul are in them as much as mine---so they should be the way to settle our difference."  
  
Miki nodded, and flipped over his card, while Yami looked at, and then flipped his own.  
  
He thought he heard music.  
  
***  
  
Aria: Once again, I'm sorry this is so belated, and so very short. There are only a few things left to tell...the outcome of the duel, Joey and Yugi's conversation, what happens between Joey and Seto, and, most important to this particular story, what becomes of Yami, Yugi, and Miki. I'll try to watch the episodes this was based on to finally finish this story! Please review...I need encouragement to finish this one! 


End file.
